This is just a fun book to read. It’s smart, with a good blend of action and dialog, and a quick read. I read this book once before after picking it up from the Barnes & Noble staff recommendations section, and now I’m reading Orwell’s 1984 as a comparison to Jennifer Govt.‘s business-centric society. I’m not too far into it, but already there are strong parallels.

Ironically enough, a scene from Jennifer Government took place in real life recently. Early in the book, Nike intentionally limits the number of shoes produced in order to generate demand. The demand is high enough to drive the price skyward and people to mug owners to steal the footwear, further creating interest in the items. So when a local store is rumored to have a number of the shoes, a throng of rabid customers surrounds the Nike store, leading to mayhem. Just such a scene broke out in New York last week [Story from NY Post]. For more business satire, I suggest Max Barry’s other book Syrup also.

I read Gatsby a few years ago when there were all of those “Best 100 Books of the 20th Century” lists. At the time, I wasn’t impressed. But after hearing praise from a number of people, I decided to give it another chance. I have to say that I’m glad I did. First, the story is entertaining and a pretty quick read. But beyond that, I feel like there are layers and layers in there. I really found myself thinking about the fluctuating relationships between the characters, the influence of the 20’s, the way the story is revealed. I suppose that’s what every book sets out to do. Now I understand that Fitzgerald’s success is what put Gatsby at the top of all those lists.

As I read this book it didn’t seem like the author was really accomplishing what he set out to do, which was to understand how people make split second decisions, but now that I think about it, it was pretty successful. One of the conclusions is that having a expertise in what you’re deciding gives you an advantage of some type. It doesn’t take a great leap of faith to accept that. However, the book’s real strength is the compilation of experiments to support conclusion. For instance, most people can tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi in a direct taste test. But if you’re given three unlabeled samples (two Cokes/one Pepsi or vice versa), you’ll have a difficult time determining which two are the same, let alone what brand they are. It turns out that the colas are so similar that, unless you are a food expert, when you sip sample three you won’t be able to remember what the first was like. It’s the series of these experiments that made Blink a good read.

Wow, I’m quite the reader lately, eh? I found this one via the “People who bought this book also bought” feature on barnesandnoble.com. I think the premise is a good one. The protagonist starts receiving checks for $1000 every month at a low point in his life. This goes on for 7 years before the payer comes calling to press him into service. Some would say it’s formulaic, but I found it entertaining and an incredibly fast read. I think only the DaVinci Code was quicker, and most of that was read on a cross-country airplane ride. So if you’re looking for a fast, thriller type story, put this on your list.

Yes, I read the history of salt. Sodium chloride, primarily. I was expecting more. The author did a reasonably good job of relaying the importance of salt throughout the ages, economically, militarily, and in terms of food supply, but there were many deficiencies also. Why salt isn’t as important today isn’t well explained. I was also frustrated by the number and length of recipes employing salt. There were several sections that were quite interesting (e.g. evolution of ketchup, origin of McIlhenny tabasco), but these curiosities were too few. Perhaps the history of phosphorus will turn out to be better.