Title: The Fry Chronicles

Author: Stephen Fry

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: There isn't much to say here. If you have read the first book of his auto-biography, this second part is essential and equally brilliant.

Title: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Author: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: This was another one of those books that has been on my to-read pile for a long time. Mainly, I was curious to know if the book could live up to its hype, but I have to say that it didn't. For a book that promises to "explore the hidden side of everything", it leaves too much out of the picture. Nevertheless, this is a great book on nano-economics (it cannot even be considered micro-economics) and presents really interesting analysis on the "homo economicus" and the way people react to incentives. Although some statistical analysis are a bit stretched to fit the needs of the book, it is still a good eye-opening read and funny sometimes.

Title: SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

Author: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: This second book is exactly that: the second book, part two of the same analysis of the power of incentives. This time, the authors were smart enough to exclude the premise of the "hidden side of everything" and present the book as it really is: a new way of analyzing a kind of particular economic behavior, which they refer to as freakonomics. The authors use the same formula of presenting entertaining examples by using apparent non-sensical statements like "why suicide bombers should buy life insurance", even though most of these statements are used to allure the interest of the reader and are only answered in the last paragraph of the chapter.

Title: Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics

Author: Henry Hazlitt

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: After reading two books that were focused on the particular economic analysis of individuals (or very small groups) it made sense to read a book that would provide me with a broader view: a macro analysis of economic behaviors. Following a recommendation from a colleague I decided to read this very complete book on the subject. Although written almost 40 years ago, the book is incredibly accurate on the analysis it makes of common economic fallacies, especially the ones related to intensive Government intervention and excessive regulation or protectionism measures. But at the same time, it inversely makes the same mistakes as the freakonomic's books. The same way a nano-economics analysis tends to ignore the macro-events that may be triggered by groups of individuals moved by the same set of incentives, a macro-economics analysis that considers only the big picture often forgets the individual that is affected by such measures and that is left alone to deal with the consequences. Nevertheless, the book is very good and should be a mandatory read for anyone that has any role on a Government or large company.

Title: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Author: Douglas Adams

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: Having known that the BBC was possibly going to produce a TV show ^[1] of Douglas Adams lesser-known stories of the eccentric detective Dirk Gently, I decided to move this first book from the bottom of my to-read pile to the top. I was really happy to notice that the typical Douglas Adams' witty and sarcastic writing (as seen on the hitchhiker's) is very much present in this book. And although this book (or the series - I still haven't read the second book) is not as vast as the hitchhiker's universe, it is still very entertaining, considering that it is mostly a very complicated science fiction story. It involves time travel, ghosts and other strange things like electric monks, horses trapped in bathrooms, sofas that could not have been where they actually are and an holistic detective agent that believes in the "fundamental interconnectedness of all things", so you pretty much know what you're getting into. In a sense, for hitchhiker's fans, this will not be a disappointment since Douglas Adams decided to keep up with the same formula of building a complex yet funny story based on the premise that everything happens for a reason and, thus, in the end, everything makes total sense...kinda :)