Book thing

I was going to write up my election forecasting model and I will (taster; the LibDems might be in a lot more trouble than anyone thinks), but I am too damnably tired this evening. So instead, here’s my responses to that book quiz which was so very hot about two weeks ago. I think it was passed on to me by John Band or Ted or somebody.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

I would be “La Parition” by Georges Perec, translated as “A Void” by Gilbert Adair. I would hang around in nightclubs and wait for someone to ask me “have you got any Es?”. Hahahaha. No, I would be “Life: A User’s Manual“, also by Perec.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Can’t think of any, but I can see how it might happen

What are you currently reading?

Oh god this is gonna be embarrasing …

In the bog: “Supercurrency” by Adam Smith/George Goodman, the less well-known (and truth be known, less good) sequel to “The Money Game”
On the tube: “The Glass Bead Game”, Herman Hesse
On the desk at work: “The Economics of Football”, Stephen Dobson and John Goddard
On the bedside table “Dynamics of Markets: Econphysics and Finance”, Joseph McCauley
On the sofa upstairs “Economics Is An Exact Science”, Jerome Levy
By the computer: “An Introduction to Modern Bayesian Econometrics”, Tony Lancaster

My only excuse is that the stack of unread books is completely out of control; the entry rate has been higher than the exit rate for about three years, then I had three months off work and spent most of them in secondhand bookshops, and it sort of went supercritical. Something had to be done. Yes, by the way, I am the non-library market for economics textbooks, pleased to meet you.

The last book you bought is:

I Spit on Your Grave, Boris Vian.

The last book you read:

(in the sense of completed) Wall Street, by Doug Henwood. It’s true, you cynical bastards!
(in the sense of, gave up on because it was boring) The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, by Robert Merton and Elinor Barber
(in the sense of, the most recent book I have read any text from at this precise moment) Bob the Builder Annual 2005.

Five books you would take to a deserted island

Good Soldier Schweik, by Jaroslav Hasek. Moreor less sums up my attitude to the world. This was a close runner for the Fahrenheit 451 question.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by JM Keynes, for the love of the game
Writings on Music, by Steve Reich, which I can very much recommend
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. I see I’ve picked two books by people who died before they finished them, which probably speaks to some deep underlying pathology
Capital, Karl Marx, again for the love of the game. It was this or a Hayek, but I feel like I’ve read the Hayek enough times that I don’t need to read it again. Arguably that’s three works truncated by death!

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Iron rule: chain letters always stop with me, I’m afraid.