Because schoolwork is probably the last thing on students’ minds during the summer, recess presents an alternative education with the summer’s best reads. Put that Econ 55 knowledge to work with Freakonomics. Learn the ins and outs of interning on the Hill with The Washingtonienne. Recess’ books will take you from drunken college parties to brilliant minds to the racetracks of NASCAR. Put on some sunscreen and enjoy the reads because, best of all, there is no final exam to worry about.
Freakonomics
By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
It is often said that economists refuse to think in terms of right and wrong, preferring to phrase everything in terms of “works” or “doesn’t work.” For Steven Levitt, it’s more like “true” or “not true.” In his relentless pursuit of truth, he might offend (as when he advances the theory that the legalization of abortion led to a decrease in crime), surprise (cheating public school teachers?) or just plain “dazzle” (as Malcolm Gladwell lauds on the book’s cover) his audience.
Whatever your reaction to the book’s unusual subjects and conclusions, you won’t be bored. As Levitt relentlessly sorts through piles of data to find meaningful patterns and explain them in a simple manner—with a little help from New York Times writer Stephen Dubner—watch assumptions about the way the world works fall away as quickly as that bad taste Econ 51 left in your mouth. It turns out that econ can be kind of cool—especially when approached with Levitt’s kid-in-a-candy-store, wide-eyed wonder where nothing is out of the question.
—Corinne Low
Killing Yourself to Live
By Chuck Klosterman
Perhaps more than ever, it’s evident that pop critic Chuck Klosterman wants to appeal to a very specific niche of readers. With Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a True Story, he’s wooing the guy who runs a record store, the indie rock kid or the journalist who spends his time toiling as he writes countless music and book reviews. To other people, the idea of equating specific songs and CDs with relationships and, in fact, life will sounds totally preposterous. Sure, Klosterman has a “mission” in the book: He wants to investigate the places where rock and roll heroes have died. It’s only a pretense though.
But ANYWAYS (read the book, you’ll understand), Klosterman is certainly in fine form here as he recounts through his looking glass of pop culture minutia three inevitably flawed women he associates himself with. And while it’s not as coherent or smooth as his masterpiece Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, it’s good to hear from Mr. Klosterman again.
—Robert Winterode
The Washingtonienne
By Jennifer Culter
The Washingtonienne is the story of Jacqueline, a young Capitol Hill staffer whose escapades make Samantha from Sex and the City look conservative. Jacqueline’s adventures provide entertainment for other characters through her blog and make the novel a quick and easy summer read.
The author, Jennifer Cutler, describes life on Capitol Hill in a both accurate and exaggerated manner, not unlike Tom Wolfe’s description of college life in I Am Charlotte Simmons. For example, many of the characters play into stereotypes: the older man who uses power and money to seduce younger women, the young women who are working on the Hill for the sole purpose of finding a husband and the sleazy politician.
Don’t expect to learn what a life of government service is really like from The Washingtonienne, but do expect a drama with all the necessary ingredients of a good soap opera: sex, drugs, greed and friends who can’t be trusted.
—Lexi Richards
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Smashed
By Koren Zalickas
As a ninth grader with a terrible hangover, Koren Zalickas carefully chooses the word “smashed” to describe one of her first escapades with alcohol in a letter to a long-time pen pal. From this point forward, “smashed” becomes the only term applicable to Koren’s life, as alcohol leads her on a blurry path into her twenties.
Smashed is a sadly honest memoir of this young woman’s life with alcohol. Zalickas spent a decade in a haze created by a seemingly endless consumption of cocktails, beers and shots. Yet Zalickas, as she is quick to point out, was never an alcoholic. She never drank alone nor was she physically addicted to alcohol. Instead, she was a long-time alcohol abuser—a young female with an affliction that has become so common it is noteworthy, as Zalickas puts it.
Zalickas draws on a few shocking statistics and deep personal memories to discuss the prevalence of alcohol abuse among young females. But Smashed is not intended to preach a substance-free existence. The book was written as much for Zalickas as it was for the readers. Through Smashed, Zalickas seeks to define the progression of her cycle of alcohol abuse and come to terms with her life filled by blacked-out memories. In doing so, Zalickas puts forth an important and compelling work of an increasingly common female experience.
—Chrissie Gorman
Sunday Money: Speed! Lust! Madness! Death!
By Jeff MacGregor
Jeff MacGregor is an outsider in an area where 75 million people are in the know: the world of NASCAR. In his own quest to understand the lure of this growing American pastime, MacGregor analyzes and scrutinizes the drivers, races, fans and promotions during a yearlong trek with his wife. During this period, the couple traveled 48,000 miles to attend 36 races at 23 tracks.
Sunday Money, however, is as much about the culture of NASCAR as it is about the races. In providing a comprehensive look at the industry, Sunday Money takes the readers from the early beginnings of the sport to Disney World, where the author gets to drive a car as part of a fantasy adventure. MacGregor’s frequently satirical tone makes the book very readable to even those who do not know anything or even care about NASCAR. The tone lightens as MacGregor drives on, showing his own shifting feelings about the culture.
With as much artistry as MacGregor uses to describe the industry, his wife, a photographer, adds great images of the trip, which help even the most removed outsider get a glimpse into the world of professional racecar driving.
—Chrissie Gorman
Everything Bad is Good For You
By Steven Johnson
At first glance, a sociology text doesn’t seem material well suited for pool-side summer reading, but Everything Bad Is Good for You is just that—a breezy, not too thinky book of assertions and opinions.
In this self-described “old-fashioned work of persuasion,” author Steven Johnson asserts that, despite popular claims, elements of modern mass culture such as video games, television shows and the Internet are actually making us smarter. In Johnson’s world, modern video games are akin to extended word problems and television dramas have progressed from the single episode arcs of Starsky & Hutch to the extended and competing storylines of The West Wing and The Sopranos.
Johnson’s point that you cannot judge modern media by past literary standards has definite merit, but his work seems to suffer from selective attention. For example, though he uses The Sopranos to illustrate his assertion that television is becoming increasingly complicated, Johnson pointedly excludes more limited forms, like reality TV or predictable sitcoms, from his discussion. Similarly, videogames that require little more than furious button-pushing, such as Super Smash Brothers, escape his attention.
Moreover, Johnson refrains from empirical analysis, which seems necessary when one is surveying the pop culture landscape.
Despite its fault, Everything is an interesting read, appealing for all consumers of popular culture. So pick it up one afternoon and, even if you’re not persuaded by Johnson’s argument, at least you’ll have read a book, which everyone agrees is good for you.
—Caitlin Donnelly