Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything (Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner)

[****] ISBN: 9780060776138 (audio) ISBN: 9780060731328 (hardcover)

Steven Levitt has a warped mind. He is the rogue economist of the title, and he manages, by having such a unique perspective about so many things, to really make you think about how you see the world. And it's not just that he's just being contrarian in his world view. He applies genuine science, mathematics, and statistics to answer hard questions about the world. The unique part comes from the questions he is asking, the way he asks them, and the way he applies the science, etc. to answer them. I came away convinced that the so-called common wisdom is obviously wrong in many cases and so very easy to subvert. With the other Stephen (of the New York Times) joining in to help with the writing, these two are essentially the Mythbusters of economics (and, by implication, sociology).

You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom (Phil Rosenthal)

[***] ISBN: 9781597771436 (audio) ISBN: 9780452288782 (paperback)

This book is an almost perfect resource for anyone who is trying, or considering trying, to break into television scriptwriting, especially for sit-coms. For them it's really a four-star book. It's loaded with keen insight into the world of television production and writing.

It's also a four-star book for anyone who is a fan of the show Mr. Rosenthal created, Everyone Loves Raymond. It's loaded with hilarious behind-the-scenes stories about how the show came to be and the people involved.

For everyone else, it's worth at least three-stars, especially the audio edition where you get to hear the author, in his very ethnic New York voice, tell all the stories and do the voices and play some recordings. It's just plain funny.