I finished up book 2 of 3 last night and it's fantastic. I give it a 10 on my nonfiction scale. The book is Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and it will open your eyes as to which variables really drive society as a whole. Levitt crunches numbers and raw data to explain a myriad of complex issues. Some of his theories and chapter content: Legalizing abortion dramatically dropped crime rates 15-25 years later, Can we catch teachers who cheat on standardized tests for their students, Why Klan members are like Real Estate Agents, Can your name predict your success (and why do African Americans continue to give their children names that could be hurting them), Could tracking thievery from a bagel delivery man predict the current market, Is a child's success based on "who" their parents are (as people in general) or "what" their parents do (as far as parenting is concerned), Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
As a guy with math as half of his dual major - I absolutely loved this book and wished it was twice as long. I think I'll go over to his blog on www.freakonomics.com and sign up. Buy it - you'll love it. Or if you ask real nice, maybe I'll let you borrow mine.
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