Jacq from Single Mom, Rich Mom brings some research on tightwads and spendthrifts from one of my behavioral science labs. I have an enormous pile of these amazing new research papers (plus I recommend everybody read the book Nudge and the book Insufficient Funds)… would people be interested in a post on the occasional econ article? (Though right now I’m reading about brainwashing…)
This post from the same blog this week is also great– it has LOLcats, a thought provoking premise and interesting article, and a link to one of our posts. Hard to beat that! (Two links to the same blog in one week! A new record for us.)
Lotta posts this week on how much a college degree/major is worth if anything. Here’s Dean Dad’s. Here’s Invest it Wisely’s, which links to others (though not ours! UPDATE: We have evilly pushed our way into his links. Eeeeevil. We take back the weirdness of his Canadian-hood), though he’s some weird kind of Canadian, apparently. And Wealth Informatics which I especially liked because it actually mentioned the truth that for middle and lower income families with bright kids the private school can actually be cheaper than state. I think there were more that I’ve missed… feel free to add them in the comments.
More on grading: an oldy but a goody
ROFL Cakewrecks… Old spice cakes. Yeah, you’re a little late to the meme if Sesame St. has scooped you. Hm… cake…scoop. I want ice cream.
I promise you, Dame Eleanor Hull, our mid-semester doldrums are EXACTLY as advertised. And there are no flowered cover pages, because each work is crappy just like everybody else’s (my great comfort– all research is bad).
Why not to go to law school. from Dr. Virago at quodshe. Xtranormal cartoons made by professors never ever get old. We’ll have to dig up our favorite of all time a little closer to finals.
Exercise is dangerous! From Active Academic. Though that is probably not the message she meant people to take away. Why on earth do people exercise?
I have a feeling I’ll want to link to Monday’s minting nickels post… but it is only Saturday so I’m stuck with the “a fascinating post is coming” post. But hey, it links to us, which is automatically ups its coolness.
We were in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance as two morning radio girls.
Mack the Knife, in the original German from Three Penny Opera sung by Lotte Lenya, the wife of Brecht. (Check out her rather horrific, but well sung, Pirate Jenny as well)
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
October 23, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Woops! I’ll link to yours, too! :)
October 24, 2010 at 8:04 am
Thanks for liking the posts (from this weird Canuck)! Yes please – I would love some economics posts (esp love Kahneman) with a side order of brainwashing. (I suppose that means scrambled…) Can you share the book you’re reading on brainwashing? It’s an interest of mine too, and I always feel left out when you do your books posts since I only read mystery / murder fiction and non-fiction.
October 24, 2010 at 8:09 am
The brainwashing book turned out to be useless crap… full of philosophy and literary analysis of fictional brainwashing as case studies… and has been returned to the library. It did cite a very interesting sounding book on advertising called Influence, that I’ve called for on interlibrary loan (the two earlier editions that our library does have were checked out AND on recall), so if that’s any good I might write it up. At some point I’ll get through Finding Flow and finish a post on that.
October 24, 2010 at 8:25 am
Oh if it’s Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini – that book is excellent ! I read it when it first came out, but heard he also came out with Influence: Science and Practice – which is pretty much the same thing only more of a textbook. I haven’t checked out that one.
Is Finding Flow from Michael Csik…. ? Read his other book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” years ago, but paradoxically, didn’t find the book itself that engaging – although I liked the concept.
October 24, 2010 at 8:28 am
You should review it on your site!
I have read the original Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. My coauthor read his money making Finding Flow, and said it was just a self-help manual on happiness but an easy read, so I figured I might as well stick it in my bathroom for pleasure reading. It is much easier to go through than the more scholarly version.
October 24, 2010 at 8:50 am
Oh, I don’t know. I write about books a bit on my other down low ranting site. I don’t know if other people find that stuff interesting or not. I mean I do – but then I read A LOT of nonfiction (probably too much), but do others? Many people don’t read a lot of non-fiction or much besides blogs do they? (Not judging there!) ;-)
I might review Jacob’s (ERE) book when I get it – I traded him “Cashing in (really out) on the American Dream” for a copy. That should be interesting since I like his way of thinking, but don’t have the same values. LOL
Am also re-reading YMOYL to see why I got a different message than you guys – I think it subtly brainwashed me. ;-)
October 24, 2010 at 8:58 am
I tend to read the book reviews and occasionally acquire a book based on the reviews… but I don’t tend to comment on book reviews.
I think there’s so much in YMoYL that not only is it different things to different people, but it’s also different things at different points in your life. If you’re in a really horrible job situation, I could see how it might seem like there’s no possible way working for the man could be as attractive as financial independence… but maybe taking that step before finding an enjoyable job is also a valid part of the journey.
DH thinks he will need to reread YMoYL from time to time. It does provide hope and freedom.
Hm… down low ranting site… what would that be?
October 24, 2010 at 12:03 pm
I don’t comment on the book reviews either – and wouldn’t make the mistake like some have of doing multi-part reviews of a time management systems or books that most people simply aren’t interested in. The 9 steps of YMOYL could be a good way to do it on a PF blog for someone who’s trying to achieve FI now, although I didn’t follow the advice on it and do everything in detail myself as the book prescribes.
Agreed on YMOYL – the re-read is good now that I’m coming from an entirely different perspective.
Re the down low blog – it’s off public status. I need a place to vent my inside – often judging voice so that I appear sane to the world. ;-) I don’t think the PF world wants a female George Carlin – but not as funny.
October 24, 2010 at 12:13 pm
re: 2nd blog: Bummer!
And yeah, a multi-part review of something like “get things done” is probably about the same length as the book itself, and probably just there because it’s hard to post twice a day in perpetuity. Still, I do like the one pagers on TSD.
So far our pf reviews have been more in the context of something (like pre-tenure angst, or why it’s good to satisfice), and not a straight up review of the book itself.
October 25, 2010 at 5:28 pm
And thanks for the reverse link, back at you, and twice around!