Levitt, a "rogue" economist, uses the tools of an economist to answer all kinds of questions. Teachers cheating on standardized tests, why crack dealers live with their moms, why the crime rate dropped in the '90s (Roe v. Wade). Like Malcolm Gladwell, but more academically rigorous. Co-author is very readable, a New Yorker writer.
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March 24, 2007
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Recent Posts
- New Blog Location
- American Fire by Monica Hesse
- Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
- The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
- The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser
- Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
- That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
- Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
- Happiness by Aminatta Forna
- Books to Read
Books by Author
- Abi-Ezzi, Nathalie
- Aciman, Andre
- Ackland, Jenny
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
- Albright, Madeleine (Prague Winter)
- Albright, Madeleine (The Mighty and the Almighty)
- Alexander, Robert
- Alvaraz, Julia
- Anderson, Jessica (One of the Wattle Birds)
- Anderson, Jessica (The Impersonators)
- Anderson, Jessica (Tirra Lirra by the River)
- Ansari, Aziz
- Ariely, Dan
- Ashmere, Emma
- Aslan, Reza
- Astley, Thea (Drylands)
- Astley, Thea (Coda)
- Atkinson, Kate
- Atkinson, Kate (Life After Life)
- Atkinson, Kate (A God in Ruins)
- Atwood, Margaret
- Austen, Jane (Sense and Sensibility)
- Austen, Jane (Emma)
- Austen, Jane (Northanger Abbey)
- Austen, Jane (Persuasion)
- Auster, Paul (Brooklyn Follies)
- Auster, Paul (Invisible)
- Auster, Paul (Oracle Night)
- Auster, Paul (Sunset Park)
- Auster, Paul (Travels in the Scriptorium)
- Babst, C. Morgan
- Bail, Murray (Eucalyptus)
- Bail, Murray (The Pages)
- Bailey, Elisabeth Tova
- Baker, Dorothy
- Banville, John
- Barbery, Muriel
- Barnes, Julian (Arthur and George)
- Barnes, Julian (The Sense of An Ending)
- Barry, John M.
- Bezmozgis, David (The Betrayers)
- Bezmozgis, David (The Free World)
- Bianculli, David
- Bitto, Emily
- Black, Cara (Murder in the Marais)
- Black, Cara (Murder in the Rue Paradis
- Black, Robin
- Bloom, Stephen
- Bohgalian, Chris
- Boyd, Martin (A Difficult Young Man)
- Boyd, Martin (Outbreak of Love)
- Boyd, Martin (The Cardboard Crown)
- Boyd, Martin (When Blackbirds Sing)
- Brooks, David
- Brooks, Geraldine (Caleb's Crossing)
- Brooks, Geraldine (March)
- Brooks, Geraldine (People of the Book)
- Brooks, Geraldine (Year of Wonders)
- Bryson, Bill (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
- Bryson, Bill (A Walk in the Woods)
- Bryson, Bill (In a Sunburned Country)
- Butler, Robert Olen
- Byatt, A.S. (Possession)
- Byatt, A.S. (The Matisse Stories)
- Campbell, Joseph
- Camus, Albert
- Carey, Peter (Chemistry of Tears)
- Carey, Peter (Oscar and Lucinda)
- Carey, Peter (True History of the Kelly Gang)
- Carr, J.L.
- Carter, Alan
- Carter, Stephen
- Cash, Rosanne
- Cathcart, Thomas and Daniel Klein
- Chatwin, Bruce
- Child, Julia
- Coleman, Claire
- Corbett, Christopher
- Costello, Mary
- Dalton, Robin
- Daoud, Kamel
- Darznik, Jasmin
- Davidson, Robyn
- Davies, Peter Ho (The Welch Girl)
- Davies, Peter Ho (The Fortunes)
- Davies, Robertson (The Lyre of Orpheus)
- Davies, Robertson (The Rebel Angels)
- Davies, Robertson (What's Bred in the Bone)
- Dawson, Greg
- de Waal, Edmund
- Desai, Kiran
- deWitt, Patrick
- Dickens, Charles
- Dillard, Annie
- Doerr, Anthony
- Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
- Draine, Betsy and Michael Hindon
- Drewe, Robert (The Drowner)
- Drewe, Robert (The Shark Net)
- Duhigg, Charles
- Eberstadt, Fernanda (Little Money Street)
- Eberstadt, Fernanda (Rat)
- Edgerton, Clyde
- Egan, Timothy
- Eggers, Dave
- Elliott, Sumner Locke
- Ellis, Joseph
- Enright, Ann
- Enright, Anne (The Green Road)
- Ephron, Nora
- Erdrich, Louise
- Facey, A.B.
- Farrington, Tim
- Ferguson, Will
- Ferrante, Elena (My Brilliant Friend)
- Ferrante, Elena (The Story of a New Name)
- Ferrante, Elena (The Story of the Lost Child)
- Ferrante, Elena (Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay)
- Flanagan, Richard (Wanting)
- Flanagan, Richard (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)
- Fowler, Karen Joy
- Fowler, Karen Joy (We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves)
- Fox, Lauren
- Francke, Linda Bird
- Franken, Al
- Fraser, Antonia
- Frayn, Michael
- Fuller, Claire
- Galloway, Steven
- Garner, Helen (The Spare Room)
- Garner, Helen (Everywhere I Look)
- Gaston, Bibi
- Gay, Peter
- Groff, Lauren
- Ghosh, Amitav
- Gifford, Bill
- Gilbert, Elizabeth (Eat, Pray, Love)
- Gilbert, Elizabeth (The Signature of All Things)
- Glass, Julia
- Goldsmith, Margaret
- Grant, Linda
- Greene, Graham (Our Man in Havana)
- Greene, Graham (The Heart of the Matter)
- Greg, Wioletta
- Grenville, Kate (One Life: My Mother's Story)
- Grenville, Kate (Sarah Thornhill)
- Grenville, Kate (The Idea of Perfection)
- Grenville, Kate (The Lieutenant)
- Grenville, Kate (The Secret River)
- Griffiths, Elly (The Crossing Places)
- Griffiths, Elly (The House at Sea's End)
- Griffiths, Elly (The Janus Stone)
- Grissom, Kathleen
- Gruen, Sarah
- Haddon, Mark (A Spot of Bother)
- Hadley, Tessa
- Hagerty, Barbara Bradley
- Haidt, Jonathan
- Hamid, Mohsin (The Reluctant Fundamentalist)
- Hamid, Mohsin (Exit West)
- Hamilton, Gabrielle
- Harr, Jonathan
- Harris, Jane
- Harris, Joanne (Holy Fools)
- Harris, Joanne (The Girl With No Shadow)
- Harrower, Elizabeth
- Harstad, Donald (A Long December)
- Harstad, Donald (Known Dead)
- Haruf, Kent
- Harvey, Samantha
- Hay, Ashley (A Hundred Small Lessons)
- Hay, Ashley (The Railwayman's Wife)
- Hay, Ashley (The Body in the Clouds)
- Hazzard, Shirley (The Great Fire)
- Hazzard, Shirley (The Transit of Venus)
- Heaphy, Timothy
- Heiss, Anita
- Hellenga, Robert (Sixteen Pleasures)
- Hellenga, Robert (The Confessions of Frances Godwin)
- Hessler, Peter (Oracle Bones)
- Hessler, Peter (River Town)
- Hickey, Christine Dwyer (Last Train from Liguria)
- Hickey, Christine Dwyer (The Cold Eye of Heaven)
- Hillenbrand, Laura
- Hodgman, George
- Hoffman, Alice
- Hoffman, Claire
- Horan, Nancy
- Hosseini, Khaled (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
- Hosseini, Khaled (The Kite Runner)
- Howell, Georgina
- Huddle, David (Nothing Can Make Me Do This)
- Huddle, David (Tenorman)
- Huddle, David (The Story of a Million Years)
- Hughes, Robert
- Hurston, Zora Neale
- Hyland, M.J.
- Irving, Washington
- Isaacson, Walter
- Itani, Frances (Remembering the Bones)
- Itani, Frances (Tell)
- Jacobson, Howard
- James, Clive
- James, Henry (Portrait of a Lady)
- James, Henry (Washington Square)
- Jewett, Sarah Orne
- Johnston, George
- Johnston, Jennifer
- Jolley, Elizabeth
- Jones, Gail (A Guide to Berlin)
- Jones, Gail (Five Bells)
- Jones, Gail (Sixty Lights)
- Jones, Lloyd
- Joyce, Rachel
- Just, Ward (A Family Trust)
- Just, Ward (An Unfinished Season)
- Just, Ward (Echo House)
- Just, Ward (Forgetfulness)
- Kaag, John
- Kafka, Franz (Metamorphosis)
- Kafka, Franz (The Trial)
- Keneally, Thomas
- Keret, Etgar (Suddenly a Knock on the Door)
- Keret, Etgar (The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God)
- Kertész, André
- Kidd, Sue Monk and Ann Kidd Taylor
- Kiernan, Denise
- Kimani, Peter
- Kimberling, Brian
- King, Lily
- King, Ross (Judgment of Paris)
- King, Ross (Michelangelo)
- King, William
- Klima, Ivan
- Kostova, Elizabeth (The Historian)
- Kostova, Elizabeth (The Swan Thieves)
- Koval, Ramona
- Kowalski, William
- Kurlansky, Mark
- Kushner, Rachel
- Lahiri, Jhumpa (Interpreter of Maladies)
- Lahiri, Jhumpa (Unaccustomed Earth)
- Lalwani, Nikita
- Lang, Lisa
- Leane, Jeanine
- Lebovitz, David
- Lee, Min Jin (Free Food for Millionaires)
- Lee, Min Jin (Pachinko)
- Leonhardt, Lynne
- Lepore, Jill
- Lethem, Jonathan
- Levitt, Steven and Stephen Dubner
- Levy, Andrea
- Levy, Deborah
- Lewis, Bernard
- Lewycka, Marina
- Lindsay, Joan
- Lively, Penelope (City of the Mind)
- Lively, Penelope (Cleopatra's Sister)
- Lively, Penelope (Spiderweb)
- London, Joan
- London, Joan (The Golden Age)
- Lopez, Steve
- Lucey, Donna
- Lurie, Alison
- Macdonald, Helen
- MacLaverty, Bernard
- Madden, Deirdre (Molly Fox's Birthday)
- Madden, Deirdre (Time Present and Time Past)
- Makine, Andrei
- Malouf (The Conversations at Curlow Creek)
- Malouf, David (Fly Away Peter)
- Malouf, David (Harland's Half Acre)
- Malouf, David (Remembering Babylon)
- Mankell, Henning
- Mann, Charles C.
- Mantel, Hilary (Bringing Up the Bodies)
- Mantel, Hilary (Eight Months on Ghazzah Street)
- Mantel, Hilary (Wolf Hall)
- Marra, Anthony
- Marra, Anthony (The Tsar of Love and Techno)
- Martin, Steve (An Object of Beauty)
- Martin, Steve (Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life)
- Martin, Steve (Shopgirl)
- Maxwell, William (So Long, See You Tomorrow)
- Maxwell, William (The Château)
- McCann, Colum (Let the Great World Spin)
- McCann, Colum (Thirteen Ways of Looking)
- McDermott, Alice (After This)
- McDermott, Alice (Someone)
- McEwan, (Sweet Tooth)
- McEwan, Ian (The Children Act)
- McGahern, John
- McManus, Sophie
- McNamee, Thomas
- Mears, Gillian
- Messud, Claire
- Michaels, Sean
- Miller, Alex (Autumn Laing)
- Miller, Alex (Conditions of Faith)
- Miller, Alex (Journey to Stone Country)
- Miller, Alex (Landscape of Farewell)
- Miller, Alex (Lovesong)
- Mitchell, David
- Modiano, Patrick
- Montero, Mayra
- Montgomery, Sy
- Moorehead, Alan
- Morris, Jan (Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere)
- Morris, Jan (Venice)
- Morrison, Toni
- Mortenson, Greg
- Mortenson, Greg and David Oliver Relin
- Mosse, Kate
- Moynahan, Brian
- Munro, Alice (Runaway: stories by Alice Munro)
- Munro, Alice (Stories: View from Castle Rock)
- Natterson-Horowitz, Barbara and Kathryn Bowers
- Nemirovsky, Irene
- Nguyen, Viet Thanh
- Nguyen, Viet Thanh (The Refugees)
- Niland, D'Arcy
- Norman, Howard
- Nothomb, Amélie (Fear and Trembling)
- Nothomb, Amélie (The Stranger Next Door)
- O"Farrell, Maggie (This Must Be The Place)
- O'Farrell, Maggie (Instructions for a Heat Wave)
- O'Farrell, Maggie (The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox)
- Obama, Barack
- Obrecht, Tea
- Ogawa, Yoko
- Olson, Lynne
- Ondaatje, Michael (Divisidero)
- Ondaatje, Michael (The Cat's Table)
- Orlean, Susan
- Osnos, Evan
- Otsuka, Julie
- Oz, Amos
- Ozeki, Ruth
- Pagels, Elaine
- Pagnamenta, Peter (Prairie Fever)
- Pagnamenta, Peter and Momoko Williams
- Pagnol, Marcel
- Panter-Downes, Mollie
- Park, David
- Park, Ruth
- Patchett, Ann
- Patchett, Ann (Run)
- Patchett, Ann (State of Wonder)
- Pears, Ian
- Penney, Stef
- Penny, Louise (A Fatal Grace)
- Penny, Louise (How the Light Gets In)
- Penny, Louise (Others in Armand Gamache Series)
- Penny, Louise (Still Life)
- Pepperberg, Irene
- Percy, Walker
- Perlman, Elliot
- Petterson, Per
- Phillips, Arthur
- Pollan, Michael
- Porter, Katherine Anne
- Power, Carla
- Powers, Richard
- Prose, Francine (Mister Monkey)
- Prose, Francine (Peggy Guggenheim)
- Pym, Barbara
- Raban, Jonathan (Passage to Juneau)
- Raban, Jonathan (Waxwings)
- Rachman, Tom (The Imperfectionists)
- Rachman, Tom (The Rise & Fall of Great Powers)
- Raddatz, Martha
- Redhill, Michael
- Reichl, Ruth
- Rendell, Ruth
- Richardson, Henry Handel, pseudonym (Australia Felix)
- Richardson, Henry Handel, pseudonym (The Way Home)
- Richardson, Henry Handel, pseudonym (Ultima Thule)
- Richler, Nancy
- Rindell, Suzanne
- Robinson, Marilynne (Gilead)
- Robinson, Marilynne (Gilead, second time)
- Robinson, Marilynne (Lila)
- Rubenstein, Richard E.
- Rushdie, Salmon
- Russell, Mary Doria (Doc: a Novel)
- Russell, Mary Doria (Dreamers of the Day)
- Russo, Richard
- Sachs, Harvey
- Salter, John
- Sanders, Michael
- Saunders, George (Lincoln in the Bardo)
- Saunders, George (Tenth of December)
- Schiff, Stacy
- Schulman, Audrey
- Schumacher, Julie
- Scourfield, Stephen
- Shaffer, Mary Ann and Annie Barrows
- Sheers, Owen
- Shields, Carol
- Shorto, Russell
- Shteyngart, Gary (Absurdistan)
- Shteyngart, Gary (Little Failure)
- Shteyngart, Gary (Super-sad-true-love-story)
- Siblin, Eric
- Silvey, Craig
- Simonson, Helen
- Simsion, Graeme
- Smith, Ali
- Smith, Dodie
- Smith, Zadie (On Beauty)
- Smith, Zadie (NW)
- Spark, Muriel (A Far Cry from Kensington)
- Spark, Muriel (Memento Mori)
- Spence, Catherine Helen
- Spufford, Francis
- St. John, Madeleine (The Women in Black)
- St. John, Madeleine (A Pure Clear Light)
- Standage, Tom
- Starnone, Domenico
- Steinem, Gloria
- Steinhardt, Arnold
- Stewart, Rory
- Stibbe, Nina (Love, Nina)
- Stibbe, Nina (Man at the Helm)
- Stibbe, Nina (Paradise Lodge)
- Stockett, Kathryn
- Strout, Elizabeth (Anything is Possible)
- Strout, Elizabeth (My Name is Lucy Barton)
- Strout, Elizabeth (Oliver Kitteridge)
- Strout, Elizabeth (The Burgess Boys)
- Suri, Manil
- Swift, Earl
- Swift, Graham
- Taylor, Barbara Brown
- Taylor, Elizabeth
- Taylor, Jill Bolte
- Temple, Peter (The Broken Shore)
- Temple, Peter (Truth)
- Thubron, Colin
- Tiffany, Carrie
- Tilghman, Christopher (Mason's Retreat)
- Tilghman, Christopher (The Right-Hand Shore)
- Toibin, Colm (Brooklyn: a Novel)
- Toibin, Colm (House of Names)
- Toibin, Colm (Nora Webster)
- Toibin, Colm (Testament of Mary)
- Toibin, Colm (The Master)
- Toobin, Jeffrey
- Tough, Paul
- Towles, Amor (A Gentleman in Moscow)
- Towles, Amor (Rules of Civility)
- Tremain, Rose (The Road Home)
- Tremain, Rose (Trespass)
- Tremain, Rose (The Gustav Sonata)
- Trevor, William
- Turgenev, Ivan
- Ullmann, Linn
- Undset, Sigrid
- Unsworth, Barry
- Verghese, Abraham (Cutting for Stone)
- Verghese, Abraham (My Own Country)
- Vermalle, Caroline
- Vickers, Salley (Miss Garnet's Angel)
- Vickers, Salley (The Cleaner of Chartres)
- Vickers, Salley (The Other Side of You)
- Vila-Matas, Enrique
- Von Arnim, Elizabeth
- Vowell, Sarah (Assassination Vacation)
- Vowell, Sarah (Lafayette in the Somewhat United States)
- Vowell, Sarah (The Wordy Shipmates)
- Vowell, Sarah (Unfamiliar Fishes)
- Vreeland, Susan
- Waldman, Adelle
- Wallis, Velma
- Walter, Jess
- Ward, Jesmyn
- Waters, Sarah
- Watson, Larry (An American Boy)
- Watson, Larry (Montana, 1948)
- Waugh, Evelyn
- Weiner, Eric
- Weisman, Jonathan
- Wharton, Edith (Ethan Fromm)
- Wharton, Edith (The House of Mirth)
- Wharton, Edith (In Morocco)
- Wharton, Edith (The Age of Innocence)
- Wharton, Edith (The Custom of the Country)
- Whealy, Diane Ott
- Wheeler, Sara
- Whitehead, Colson
- Willis, Connie
- Winchester, Simon
- Winters, Michelle
- Winton, Tim (Breath)
- Winton, Tim (Cloudstreet)
- Winton, Tim (Dirt Music)
- Winton, Tim (Eyrie)
- Winton, Tim (That eye, the sky)
- Winton, Tim (The Boy Behind the Curtain)
Blogs I Like
Prague 2007
- This album has pictures from our trip with Abby and Will to Prague in March 2007.
New York 2008
- In June we met Jen and Brooke, Bill and Mary, and Sean and Kim in New York to see the performance at Carnegie Hall of a piece that Brooke wrote. It was performed at Carnegie Hall on June 4 by Luther College faculty members.