| | | | | 9780062366
| 9780062366719
| 0062366718
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324
pp
| 4.26
| 975
| Jun 02, 2015
| 2015
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liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 18, 2019
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Hardcover
| |
| | | | | 0374148228
| 9780374148225
| 0374148228
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256
pp
| 4.22
| 6,347
| 1971
| Aug 06, 1971
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really liked it
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Very enlightening. McPhee's writing style is very unique - sometimes boring but frequently brilliant (I'll post some examples below). What I like abou
Very enlightening. McPhee's writing style is very unique - sometimes boring but frequently brilliant (I'll post some examples below). What I like about him most is the subjects (human and otherwise) he chooses to write about. Most of his topics deal with the interaction of humans and nature. He's regarded as an environmental writer, but I find him quite balanced. His foils are presented as very human and sympathetic. I came away with an appreciation for both sides of the issues, which is a sign that McPhee has done his job right.
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Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 30, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0142001163
| 9780142001165
| 0142001163
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231
pp
| 3.63
| 4,629
| Oct 2005
| Oct 31, 2006
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really liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 11, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0670026670
| 9780670026678
| 0670026670
|
392
pp
| 4.27
| 11,823
| Oct 14, 2014
| Oct 14, 2014
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it was amazing
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Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 11, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0465072690
| 9780465072699
| 0465072690
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287
pp
| 3.90
| 1,874
| Oct 28, 1999
| Oct 28, 1999
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liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 05, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0393245446
| 9780393245448
| 0393245446
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285
pp
| 3.93
| 22,224
| Jun 07, 2016
| Jun 07, 2016
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liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 09, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 006092215X
| 9780060922153
| 006092215X
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688
pp
| 4.29
| 479
| 1992
| Sep 15, 1993
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Notes are private!
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0
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Aug 09, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0374520089
| 9780374520083
| 0374520089
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304
pp
| 4.18
| 473
| 1985
| Oct 01, 1986
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liked it
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Reading John McPhee is, to use an apt analogy, like floating down a stream in a canoe. He doesn't drag you along in the rapids, but he'll let you padd
Reading John McPhee is, to use an apt analogy, like floating down a stream in a canoe. He doesn't drag you along in the rapids, but he'll let you paddle along and every once in a while he'll treat you to the rush of a particularly interesting bend.
Some examples of my favorite passages.
From 'Heirs of General Practice' (page 107):
The scene strongly brings to mind a stack of magazines tied up with string in an attic. It strongly brings to mind that medical superman of yesteryear, the old doc on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post with his stethoscope planted on the chest of a child's doll, the old doc who rode from house to house through deep snows with his black bag beside him and his roan gelding pulling the sleigh, the old doc who did appendectomies on the kitchen table, the old doc who worked nine days a week and rested on the tenth.
From 'Minihydro' (page 228-229):
Turbines designed for low-flow situations would be wasteful in times of high water. Turbines designed for high efficiency at, say, five hundred cubic feet per second might be ineffective in times of low water. Under certain conditions, turbines can go into a state of cavitation, wherein vaporizing water creates bubbles that implode on the metal and riddle it with tiny holes. The ideal turbine for a little mill up a creek somewhere in inconsistent country would be one that was prepared to take whatever might come, to sit there and react calmly in any situation, to respond evenly to wild and sudden demands, to make the best of difficult circumstances, to remain steadfast in time of adversity, to keep going, above all to press on, to persevere, and not vibrate, fibrillate, vacillate, cavitate, or panic - in short, to accept with versatile competence what is known in hydroelectrical engineering as the run of the river.
'North of the C.P. Line', pages 263-264):
I will believe anything about deer. Deer, in my opinion, are rats with antlers, roaches with split hooves, denizens of the dark primeval suburbs. Deer intensely suggest New Jersey. One of the densest concentrations of wild deer in the United States inhabits the part of New Jersey that, as it happens, I inhabit, too. Deer like people. They like to be near people. They like beanfields, head lettuce, and anybody’s apples. They like hibiscus, begonias, impatiens, azaleas, rhododendrons, boxwood, and wandering Jews. I once saw a buck with a big eight-point rocking-chair rack looking magnificent as he stood between two tractor-trailers in the Frito-Lay parking lot in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Deer use the sidewalks in the heart of Princeton.
It's worth reading through a hundred pages of John McPhee just to come across a single passage like this. McPhee has the ability to hold the reader's attention in his fingertips and play with it like silly-putty. He is clear and direct while still having fun with the language and form. And he always picks the most interesting topics.
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1
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Aug 09, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0465022030
| 9780465022038
| 0465022030
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293
pp
| 4.24
| 5,515
| Dec 30, 2007
| Mar 22, 2011
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really liked it
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This book is quite a bit drier than I remember Basic Economics being. It did pick up in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 about income, race, and third-world count
This book is quite a bit drier than I remember Basic Economics being. It did pick up in Chapters 5, 6, and 7 about income, race, and third-world countries, respectively.
I did find that Sowell sometimes picked a weaker form of an argument when he could have been a lot more convincing. I think you really need to read Basic Economics first to understand his method of thinking, and then it will make a lot more sense. I think this book - especially the earlier parts - takes for granted that you understand his approach to economics.
I did like some of the central ideas, which as I mentioned, are a lot more clear when you've read Basic Economics. I think if there's one idea that sums up this book, it's that statistical categories don't give the best picture of what's really happening in an economy. You really have to examine how individuals act within the economic system. For example (Chapter 7), it's easy to point to the fact that the riches countries and the poorest counties are farther apart in terms of GNP, but when you compare the SAME counties over time, most of them have moved closer. Similarly (Chapter 5), statistics show that people in the top few percent are now earning more compared to the lowest few percent, but when you look at INDIVIDUALS over time, most are doing better than they ever have.
I did find some of his minor points to be very insightful. For example, the chapter on education made a very good point: policy makers are measuring success in education wrong; they are measuring INPUTS rather than OUTPUTS. His example of the University of Colorado's law school was a good one: their graduates passed the bar exam at higher rates at a lower cost, but the law board was threatening to not recognize them because they didn't have enough law books in their library (I'm not remembering the details exactly, but it was something like that). Though I did find the rest of the chapter somewhat weak.
His chapter on race was also especially enlightening. Sowell makes a very compelling case that what looks like racial bias or discrimination is very often a result of people - both minorities and majority members - making rational economic decisions rather than the result of sinister or hateful motives.
Overall, a very good book, but it was a little dry, and it must be read after Basic Economics, or you'll miss some of his more nuanced points.
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1
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Aug 09, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 1785996355
| 9781785996351
| 1785996355
|
365
pp
| 4.08
| 1,208,139
| Oct 30, 1811
| 2016
|
did not like it
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Sorry, but I really had to force myself to get through this. I previously read Pride and Prejudice and I had really liked that, so I was hoping this w
Sorry, but I really had to force myself to get through this. I previously read Pride and Prejudice and I had really liked that, so I was hoping this would be similar. But, I'm sorry (yes, I feel like I need to keep apologizing to those Jane Austen fans out there), this one just wasn't as good.
For one, the characters were not at all likeable (except Mrs. Jennings maybe, who offers some comic relief much like Me. Collins in P&P), and even those characters who were interesting did not get as much screen time. Towards the end, Austen sort of forgets they exist. For example, take the little sisters Lydia and Kitty in P&P - they add a bit of fun and character to the story. In S&S as well, there's Margaret, but she doesn't really do anything, and she pretty much disappears half way through.
Another difference between the two novels: in P&P, the plot unfolds through interesting interactions between the characters - for example, the very first time Elizabeth meets Darcy at the ball, or who can forget the scene of Darcy handing Elizabeth the letter in the park. But in A&S, the plot is told through drawn out narratives, and when the characters talk to each other, it isn't really dialogue, but rather rambling speeches.
So while I really liked Pride and Prejudice, this first novel of Jane Austen just didn't have the same appeal.
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1
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Aug 09, 2018
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Paperback
| |
| | | | | 0735224897
| 9780735224896
| 0735224897
|
269
pp
| 4.24
| 45,128
| Jul 17, 2018
| Sep 04, 2018
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really liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 27, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0060920084
| 9780060920081
| 0060920084
|
299
pp
| 3.81
| 61,867
| Aug 01, 1989
| Aug 28, 1990
|
it was ok
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By far, the weakest of the Bill Brysons I've read. Very similar to Notes From a Small Island, but I didn't learn as much because he doesn't dwell on t
By far, the weakest of the Bill Brysons I've read. Very similar to Notes From a Small Island, but I didn't learn as much because he doesn't dwell on the historical background of some of the places he visits. In fact, I found Made in America to be a better tour of modern American history - for example, the part about suburban life and shopping malls - than this one is.
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1
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Jun 26, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0140296468
| 9780140296464
| 0140296468
|
289
pp
| 3.75
| 9,763
| 1999
| Jan 01, 2001
|
liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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May 15, 2018
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0062218336
| 9780062218339
| 0062218336
|
268
pp
| 3.86
| 54,420
| May 12, 2014
| May 12, 2014
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it was amazing
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It's a quick read, thanks to Stephen Dubner's brisk writing style.
This is the third book by Levitt. I found his second one, SuperFreakonomics superior
It's a quick read, thanks to Stephen Dubner's brisk writing style.
This is the third book by Levitt. I found his second one, SuperFreakonomics superior his first, Freakonomics. He seems to have gotten a hang of making fundamental points without being too grandiose. That was my problem with the first book - he seems to be grasping at some deep, overarching lesson, but it works better simply as a collection of interesting tidbits. Toning down the ambition in the sequel actually made it more effective in making the lessons sink in. In this third volume, Levitt turns slightly more "prescriptive", giving advice such as "learn to say 'I don't know'", and "always ask what the root cause is", and it actually works pretty well. His examples continue to be engaging, and the book holds together into a coherent whole.
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1
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May 15, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0142003018
| 9780142003015
| 0142003018
|
240
pp
| 3.97
| 1,365
| Mar 25, 2002
| May 27, 2003
|
liked it
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This book was published in 2002, shortly after the Muslim 9/11 attacks, and it shows - much of the book addresses the complaints against America by Mu
This book was published in 2002, shortly after the Muslim 9/11 attacks, and it shows - much of the book addresses the complaints against America by Muslims. That the book is a bit dated shows in other ways too - for example, he talks almost nothing about mass illegal immigration and refugees which have become extremely decisive issues since the immediate post 9/11 era, only about his experience as an immigrant and the contrast between immigrant minorities and indigenous minorities. Another topic he doesn't talk about much is the hyper-partisanship that started a little later in Bush's term and has now peaked in the age of Trump, Pelosi and Schumer.
Overall, his style is pretty straightforward and basic. He cites a diverse set of academic sources, but nothing terribly deep or nuanced. I feel like his audience might be those who don't read much political theory and it makes a good introduction if you haven't read much about conservative political philosophy, but nothing as intellectual as Russel Kirk or Roger Scruton.
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1
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May 15, 2018
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Paperback
| |
| | | | | 0316381640
| 9780316381642
| 0316381640
|
384
pp
| 4.25
| 4,270
| Jul 18, 2017
| Jul 18, 2017
|
liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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May 11, 2018
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Hardcover
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| | | | |
| 9781447203698
| 1447203690
|
205
pp
| 4.01
| 1,105,364
| Jan 13, 1996
| Jan 01, 1996
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really liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 07, 2017
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0062468162
| 9780062468161
| 0062468162
|
294
pp
| 4.22
| 1,418
| Jun 27, 2017
| Jun 27, 2017
|
really liked it
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Not as good as her first book, Stonewalled, especially the first half, in which she tends to talk in broad terms rather than citing specific support f
Not as good as her first book, Stonewalled, especially the first half, in which she tends to talk in broad terms rather than citing specific support for her assertions, but it picks up nicely in the last few chapters.
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1
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Sep 23, 2017
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Hardcover
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| | | | | 0809073641
| 9780809073641
| 0809073641
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339
pp
| 4.29
| 5,056
| 1961
| Apr 15, 2008
|
really liked it
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Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 21, 2017
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Paperback
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| | | | | 0393254593
| 9780393254594
| 0393254593
|
362
pp
| 3.99
| 60,242
| Dec 06, 2016
| Dec 06, 2016
|
it was amazing
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This book is very much a sequel to Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The first chapter even continues on exactly the same vein and then, l
This book is very much a sequel to Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The first chapter even continues on exactly the same vein and then, like many of his other books, turns to the main subject. It's also much more focused on the biography of the two main characters, much like The New New Thing, rather than jumping between characters.
I debated with myself whether to read this one first or Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman himself, but ultimately though this book might make a good intro to the more difficult concepts in that book. Lewis does do a good job making the concepts as easy as possible. One of the later chapters (like Chapter 6: The Mind's Rules) takes a bit of stopping and thinking, but I don't think it's beyond anyone who's willing to concentrate a bit. I also found that the book does a good job helping the reader understand the unifying theme between the earlier and later work of the two subjects. I was glad that I was actually able to understand what precisely Kahneman and Tversky's contributions were. For example, in the chapter about Prospect Theory and utility curve, I actually got that the utility curve should be s-shaped.
This is my sixth by Lewis (I read Liar's Poker, Flash Boys, The Big Short, Moneyball, The New New Thing) and it's one of his best.
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1
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Dec 21, 2016
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Hardcover
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