![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Simon Dentith, Parody: Review of Western literature and poetry, arguing that parody can be seen as central to the history of the novel and indeed all dominant forms, because parody both identifies the prior genres to be attacked by present authors and polices the appropriate boundaries of a form. Parody, he suggests, should be defined broadly, shading imperceptibly into burlesque, satire, etc.; parody is not always critical, and paradoxically it tends to preserve that which it attacks, so a parody of melodrama is often melodramatic. Actually his argument reminded me a lot of some critical theories of fanfic: can be but need not be transgressive; must be understood in social context; etc.
Tom Vanderbilt, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do: Not the best-organized book I’ve read, but full of interesting facts, and an example of the way behavioral psych has infiltrated practically every subject, so Vanderbilt recounts some of the classic experiments about how rational evaluation breaks down in predictable ways. He also argues that roads that feel dangerous can be safer, because we pay more attention when driving on them; he treats sympathetically various innovations like roundabouts (here’s a short piece he wrote on that), narrowing roads, removing signs, and creating other visual indications that the driver really needs to slow down in a particular space. There’s a lot of informative stuff in here, especially about national differences in driving behavior, and also why traffic is so frustrating and why you shouldn’t get so mad at the guy who stays in the lane that’s marked as about to close until it’s just about to disappear—turns out we’d all be better off if people in that situation stayed in both lanes until the end, then did what’s called a “zipper merge”--but it’s a long read.
Chris Anderson, Free: The Future of a Radical Price: Free iTunes audiobook! Giving stuff away can sometimes be a good business strategy; Anderson focuses on instances in which you give away stuff that’s a complement to stuff you sell. It was engaging enough, but I couldn’t help the persistent feeling that Anderson was skimming too lightly over big chunks of history and economics, and that his triumphalism was a little early in the game. When your biggest cautionary note comes from quotes from Google’s CEO about the risks of destroying existing markets before new ones have formed, you’re perhaps being too Pollyannaish. Malcolm Gladwell and Janet Maslin have more detailed reviews.
Matthys Levy & Mario Salvadori, Why Buildings Fall Down: Actually, why large structures fall down, including bridges and convention centers. Fairly accessible, though for such a targeted topic there’s not much holding the book together, no pun intended—just physics (an extensive appendix goes over basic principles of construction engineering in accessible language) and a bunch of stories of things that fell down, usually due to mistakes about what the building design/materials could take. Published in 1992, the book has a now-eerie chapter about the plane that hit the Empire State Building and how that’s very unlikely to happen again.
Tom Vanderbilt, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do: Not the best-organized book I’ve read, but full of interesting facts, and an example of the way behavioral psych has infiltrated practically every subject, so Vanderbilt recounts some of the classic experiments about how rational evaluation breaks down in predictable ways. He also argues that roads that feel dangerous can be safer, because we pay more attention when driving on them; he treats sympathetically various innovations like roundabouts (here’s a short piece he wrote on that), narrowing roads, removing signs, and creating other visual indications that the driver really needs to slow down in a particular space. There’s a lot of informative stuff in here, especially about national differences in driving behavior, and also why traffic is so frustrating and why you shouldn’t get so mad at the guy who stays in the lane that’s marked as about to close until it’s just about to disappear—turns out we’d all be better off if people in that situation stayed in both lanes until the end, then did what’s called a “zipper merge”--but it’s a long read.
Chris Anderson, Free: The Future of a Radical Price: Free iTunes audiobook! Giving stuff away can sometimes be a good business strategy; Anderson focuses on instances in which you give away stuff that’s a complement to stuff you sell. It was engaging enough, but I couldn’t help the persistent feeling that Anderson was skimming too lightly over big chunks of history and economics, and that his triumphalism was a little early in the game. When your biggest cautionary note comes from quotes from Google’s CEO about the risks of destroying existing markets before new ones have formed, you’re perhaps being too Pollyannaish. Malcolm Gladwell and Janet Maslin have more detailed reviews.
Matthys Levy & Mario Salvadori, Why Buildings Fall Down: Actually, why large structures fall down, including bridges and convention centers. Fairly accessible, though for such a targeted topic there’s not much holding the book together, no pun intended—just physics (an extensive appendix goes over basic principles of construction engineering in accessible language) and a bunch of stories of things that fell down, usually due to mistakes about what the building design/materials could take. Published in 1992, the book has a now-eerie chapter about the plane that hit the Empire State Building and how that’s very unlikely to happen again.
