In 2005 Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner came out with a book improbably titled Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explains the Hidden Side of Everything.  Unexpectedly it turned out to be a run-away success.  Now the same guys have come out with a follow-up book that purports to take up where their last book left off.  This book is titled what else but Superfreakonomics.  According to the authors, the main underlying theme for this book, as well as for the first, is that “People respond to incentives, although not in ways that are predictable or manifest.  Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences.” Then they set out to prove this thesis.  I’m not sure they succeed in every aspect, but who cares when a book is addressing such tantalizing questions as:  How is a street prostitute like a department store Santa? Or what’s the best way to catch a terrorist? Or even, can eating kangaroo save the planet?…among other topics.  By applying economic theory, backed by research and statistics, the seemingly quirky, even mundane questions yield some unexpected and startling answers that often turn out to be surprisingly relevant.

The chapter called “What do Al Gore and Moung Pinatubo have in common?” has created a good bit of controversy.  The authors take somewhat of a contrary view toward global warming, asking if the threat has perhaps been exaggerated , and then offering some unique solutions.  Such irreverence has apparently brought some fierce criticism and derision from the purists of the movement.

This book, like the first, is a rollicking good read—crisply written with wonderful flashes of humor and some  provocative and thought provoking ideas that emerge along with the lighter fare.  Above all, the authors are great story tellers and they never let the stats get in the way of a good story.  It makes for great reading for a airplane flight or in the audio version for a long drive. -Billie

Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America

by Kurt Anderson

(Random House, 2009)

.

.

From Tom Brokaw’s Forward:

“What has encouraged me greatly as I travel around the country, from the shaken baronies of Wall Street to the regional centers of commerce and back roads of rural America, is the common acknowledgment not just that a course correction is overdue, but that this is an exciting opportunity to construct a new model that will serve us better for the challenges ahead.”

Anderson’s long essay or short book includes perceptive interpretations about our evolving lifestyles, proposals about readdressing the meaning of the world around us and how we analyze fitting in to it. Anderson concludes that “the crisis should therefore prompt Americans now to call upon the old-fashioned, self-reliant, enthusiastic, common-sense part of themselves–that is, their true amateur spirit.”

While reading Reset, I couldn’t help but focus on Lemuria. With the downturn, we’ve addressed the crisis by tightening up and improving the bookstore. With a good and rightful motivated staff, we’ve worked hard to survive. We’ve corrected internal flaws, eliminated selfish personal malaise, and gotten more good books on the shelves (less crummy titles or just plain hoax books). We hope during this crisis we’ve given Jackson a better bookstore. We want to be ready to grow as the waters become smooth.

Reading Reset will prompt you to look at yourself, encouraging you to take the bull by the horns, turning those visions into actions using a renewed cultural perspective.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price

by Chris Anderson

(Hyperion, 2009)

Anderson proposes that “new free” goes beyond any marketing gimmick and sets the table for the growth of reputation economy with new methods of generating the power of free. He emphasizes ideas for competition when your competitors are giving away what you are trying to sell. Being an independent bookseller and facing the current $8.99 price war of bestsellers, it’s easy to understand why I picked this book up.

“New free” is not about “when you hear the word free, you reach for your wallet mentally.” “New free” is about providing an authentic service in a free way that might lead the customer to spend money indirectly.

Example: Lemuria Blog is a free information tool to help our readers to find the right book to read. Adding to our customer service, we hopefully lead our readers to the right reads. Using the Lemuria Blog can save wasted reading time, improve reading choices, and prevent misspent book-buying dollars. Being hypnotized by cheaply priced books may waste valuable reading time that can’t be replaced.

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and editor in chief of Wired magazine, relates what he observes now and predicts for the future in a most readable way. He understands the origins of free and how recent marketing has been used to produce business growth.

Free is a a useful book for anyone with an interest in the small business.

As we all know, independent retailing is facing huge problems as a result of the recession. Most independent retailers in the U.S. will not get bailed out by the government. For us to survive in retailing, we are faced with new challenges–many like I have not experienced in my 34 years at Lemuria.

Retail Superstars offers 25 essays about great independent stores. Reading these examples did not make me want to change my business concept. However, my desire to readdress my own issues my way was stimulated.

Retail Superstars outlines what is remarkable about the success of these stores. Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon–generally acknowledged as the best bookstore in the country–is my industry’s representative. Uniqueness is at the core of each essay.

Retailers of all types can get ideas out of this book and we need them to enhance our survival techniques.

I would welcome a volume two on these same stories concerning how they did or did not survive with a detailed explanation of the effects of the recession and how each store adjusted.

It’s interesting to watch current events and wonder what will be “the book” on a given subject or event. Sometimes it’s as simple as the first book to market, or the first well-known author, or maybe the best summary, or the most complete and comprehensive account. Occasionally, though, we find that the book that resonates most with the reader is the one that captures the spirit of the event, regardless of its timing, publicity, or scope.  We watched after Katrina and saw The Great Deluge and Breach of Faith compete for the right to be considered the authoritative retelling. Countless books on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the War on Terror hit the market and died quiet deaths before Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War captured our attention with its ground’s eye view written in vignettes. And as we watched the housing market collapse and the economy tumble down with it, we wondered who could supply an explanation.

A few attempts have been made. A handful of quick and dirty books on the the housing collapse were churned out, and some older titles were re-released with additional chapters or new appendices. But one came in the other day that may well provide the definitive account in an accessible format. Thomas Sowell’s The Housing Boom and Bust may fail in grandiosity with its straightforward title and bare yellow cover, but it scores highly in what matters: a readable, evenhanded, and linear explanation of the factors that led to the housing collapse. Down the road, we may see another book that exceeds Dr. Sowell’s in size and scope, but I doubt we’ll see one nearly as forthright and lucid.