Book Reviews: July 4th Weekend Reads

The 4th of July is often the hottest period of the summer. This year it is bound to be a roaster. Over this holiday week, Fuqua staff traditionally borrow multitudinous movies on DVD/BluRay to watch comfortably indoors in air conditioning while the food sweats on the grill outside. Movies are great, but readers, the library has more to offer than that. Remember books? Here are 3 unusual titles to add a little fireworks to the holiday.

book cover imageAriely, Dan. Irrationally yours : on missing socks, pick-up lines and other existential puzzles. HarperCollins, 2015.

Fuqua faculty member Dan Ariely writes a column “Ask Ariely” for the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. Like any advice columnist, Ariely helps his readers solve personal problems and make good decisions. He analyzes his readers’ own puzzling behavior and the actions of co-workers, family and friends. In Irrationally Yours, Ariely expands his answers to questions published in the Journal since 2012, presenting issues such as why people complain; how to select the best stall in a public restroom; and whether it is worth the money to buy an expensive car.

book cover imageHeti, Sheila, Heidi Julavits & 639 others. Women in clothes. Blue Rider Press, 2014.

Months ago, I ordered the new book Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne Shapton and 639 others, thinking it was a book about the fashion industry. It is not. Instead it is an accumulation of writing by women about their clothing choices and personal style. More than 600 women participated in this work, which describes how the clothes we wear express our values and reveal our inner selves. Hundreds of brief personal stories and photographs lend an authenticity to this delightful work.

book cover imageKuhn, Reed. Fightnomics : the hidden numbers and science in mixed martial arts… Graybeard Publishing, 2013.

Strategy consultant and Fuqua 2006 MBA alumnus Reed Kuhn specialized in strategy and decision sciences while at Duke. He has been hooked on professional mixed martial arts (MMA) since he began watching the Ultimate Fighter series on television as a teenager. He recently published a new book, FightNomics, which uses the tools of decision sciences to test common assumptions about the sport. Kuhn’s data analysis advances a deeper understanding of the sport, and can be used to develop fight strategies or to predict outcomes.

© Meg Trauner & Ford Library – Fuqua School of Business.
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