The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice

The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice by Jennifer Doleac

We are wasting a lot of time and money with criminal justice policies that don't work. Meanwhile, cheap solutions are staring us in the face and not being followed. The author is an equal opportunity critic, with many favorite right wing and left wing policies criticized. Mostly using natural experiments, she studies various measures and finds those that work and those that don't work. Most of the results seem counter-intuitive, such as the fact that children of incarcerated parents tend to be better off than children in similar situations where the parent is not incarcerated.

Left wing policies to help those stuck in the crime cycle often do not help. Baning the job application "checkbox" for crimianl convications makes it harder for ex-cons to find jobs, especially if they are black. Heavy wrap-around programs on release result in higher recidivism rates. Being "soft on crime" doesn't help the criminal or society. Right wing policies like broken-windows policing and strict monitoring and cutting off food stamp eligibility for food stamps hurt.

What helps? Letting first time offenders off easy does not disrupt their lives and results in fewer repeat offenses. Going through the process of getting arrested is often enough of a negative experience. Adding everyone to a DNA database, even after the most minor offenses also reduces the likelihood of future crimes. Electronic monitoring instead of more time in jail helps. Giving criminals more money when released and keeping them eligible for social welfare programs works. Requiring sobriety checks to maintain release encourages treatment programs.

In general, we should have consequences for criminal activity. These should be expected and consistent. They should also only escalate with repeat offenses. Prison is a huge disruption for people's lives and should be used only when needed. Very focussed efforts should be made to reintroduce them to society. On release, it is best to fully integrate in society, separate from other former prisoners. Don't try to solve all problems at once.

The proposed solutions tend to anger those vested in certain schemes. Is this a case of those benefiting from the status quo wanting to keep their funding rather than do what is best society? 

Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register

Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson

A labor organizer takes a job at a supermarket during the pandemic and then writes about the experience. What do you think the result would be? It felt like the author already had the answers in mind before she started. The workers must organize. Right to work laws need to go away to allow it. She should disobey things from up high to favor the workers. (In one bit of humility, she did realize this was a bad option after doing it for a while.)

The author works at an anonymous corporate grocery store in Salt Lake City. Various anecdotes of the experience are covered. There are plenty of anecdotes, but they could just as well be the work of fiction. Management makes appearances here and there. Scheduling can be a challenge, with many workers quitting or even not showing up. Self-checkout machines are given a bad rap. (Workers do not have as much casual human interaction and need to walk around on their feet.) The book talks about the history of supermarkets and how they evolved. They helped cut costs and eliminated racists haggling. The author also does not like electronic store tags. (Her concern is for the ability to give different customers different prices - what about the ability to make sure the price on the shelf is always correct?) On one hand, she would like for no changes to occur in supermarkets, while on the other she would like for many changes to make workers' experience better. The stories and history are interesting, but the analysis drags on.

Kin: A Novel

Kin: A Novel by Tayari Jones

Two "orphaned" black girls grow up in Jim Crow south. One was abandoned by her mother. The other's father murdered her mother. They are friends in their youth, but their paths diverge. Vernice attends Spelman college and marries into a wealthy family. Annie has a more blue-collar life and works in a club and attempts to find her mother. She is first told her mother died, but later found she was still alive - with a child that shared her name. Her fiancé dumps and she gives into her boss's moves. Things don't go well and she loses her job and gets pregnant. She goes to Vernice to get help. She gets an illegal abortion, but dies from internal bleeding. The book fades away at the end with Vernice and her reckoning with her past. These people had rough lives, but they tried to make the best of their situation.

Football

Football by Chuck Klosterman

Football is the most popular sport in the United States. It dominates the TV ratings. The USA vs. Belgium world cup soccer game was the top rated non-NFL sports broadcast, and didn't come close to NFL playoff ratings. It was even behind two Thanksgiving day broadcasts. The Super bowl is always the most popular TV broadcast. Even Canadians are more likely to watch the super bowl than the Canadian Football Grey Cup Championship. The "defects" of football work to its advantage. There is intense action and then a lot of time to figure out what happened. The full game cannot be played casually. The "casual" versions like flag football are fundamentally different.

Football's great popularity is sowing the seeds of its downfall. College football is professionalizing, reducing the strong attachments that students would have to their team. At the lower levels, the dangers are driving parents away from letting their kids play. Outside the south, high school football has become less important. Football is dominating casual fans, but not producing new die hards. It is a conservative bastion in a liberalizing world. People will eventually lose interest and move on to something else. Horse racing was once an extremely popular spectator sport. Today, it is shadow of itself with a few niche events remaining. In the past horses were part of everyone's regular life. Not so anymore. Other dangers could impact football. A death on the field remains a possibility. Sports gambling is helping to increase interest now, but could also create issues. Professional football only surpassed baseball in the 1960s as the most popular American sport. Today, soccer is closing the gap among youth. How much longer will football dominate?

The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It

The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It by Arindrajit Dube

I kept thinking "yes, but..." in response to the arguments in this book. He argues the minimum wage should be risen in part because many people spend a long time in minimum wage jobs. However, he focuses too much on looking at the wages and not at the jobs. Why are people stuck in these jobs? He dances around a few concerns, but misses some of the biggies. We require people to have health insurance, yet policies available publically are horrible compared to those you can get from companies. Work flexibility also comes into play.

The arguments with unions are also similar. With more heavily unionized and regulated job markets, employees that have jobs are better off, but it is harder for new employees to find jobs. It also limits new job creation. Longshoreman make huge amounts of money as blue collar workers. However, getting a job is extremely difficult for those not in the family. Tech jobs are high paying and much more open, but also more volatile. Big companies tend to be more lucrative, better places to work.  However, all these big companies started out small. It is extremely difficult to compete in the industry with big companies. New companies must typically start somewhere else. Tech companies opened their new markets and went from small to big. Tesla is still seen as a tech company, even as it competes with automakers. Unions typically succeed in companies that have grown and become fossilized. They help provide greater stability and predictability at the expense of dynamism. They also introduce friction and costs. 

The author complains about companies "subcontracting" out workers. Alas, that is driven by some of the same policies advocated. Companies have core competencies and labor relations. Hiring others to do non-core items is the wise choice. Especially with regulations, it can be difficult to keep track of everything in their own field, let alone many others.

There are many things wrong with the labor market. When people work as true independent contractors, they are free to set what they charge and find somebody willing to pay. Alas, the regulatory market forces people into "for-hire" schemes of employee and employer. People a century ago would cringe at this. Why are we making policies to further force people into this situation?

Boring Asian Female

Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu

This reminded me of Best Offer Wins. In both cases, an Asian American lead is driven to succeed in the way she understands the American Dream, but goes off the rails. 

In this book, Elizabeth Zhang is in her last year at Columbia, getting ready to go to law school. She grew up in South Dakota with hard-working immigrant parents. She was the only Asian at her high school and never quite fit in. She went to Columbia because that was were the snobby elite in a TV show went. She had her mind set on attending Harvard Law school to achieve the life of wealth and prosperity that other classmates seemed to have. Then she learns she didn't get into Harvard Law, or any law school other than Georgetown. She also hears that another Asian female, got into Columbia. When Elizabeth talks with the pre-law advisor, the. feedback is that she has a good application, but that she is a "boring" Asian female. Then she seadil goes off the deep end.

She is convinced that Laura stole the spot at Harvard Law. She starts stalking Laura. She impersonates a high schooler to learn more about Laura. She even asks to be called Laura when making love. Then things get worse. She hatches a plan to get Laura's admission rescinded. She publishes an anonymous far-right blog in a way that would be identified as Laura. However, people eventually trace it to the male student whose login she used to publish it. He ends up dropping out of school, only to later become a right wing commentator. Elizabeth finds out she is pregnant. After getting money from the guy for an abortion, she decides instead to have the kid, so she can be less boring. She later sneaks into Laura's dorm, but Laura comes home (with limited mental functionality due to substance use.) After Laura finally realizes everything Elizabeth has done, Elizabeth sprayed her with pepper spray and got away. Laura dies from the spray. (she had a heart condition). Elizabeth showed no remorse, and was fine when another girl was charged with the manslaughter death. Elizabeth has a miscarriage. She later impersonates Laura in the Harvard law admit group. She has a big breakdown when the group calls her out as not being a real future student. After recovering, she gets a call from Harvard, letting her know there was an error with her score reporting and that she was now being offered a spot. 

Previously, Harvard said the decision was final and there was no way to validate the data. If only they hadn't Elizabeth would not have gone wacko. However, she showed clearly that she would do anything to have her desired success. Is this really the type of person you would want? The steps seemed logical, but the results were horrid. Is this an indictment of an over-driven Asian culture? The narrative was compelling and the characters. were interesting,  though I really wanted to see her charged rather than end up with her dream.

The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us

The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations Is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us (Why Culture Wars Led to Polarization and What It Means for the Future of Religion in America) by Ryan P. Burge

At one time, mainline protestant churches were community institutions. They represented a cross-section of the community, with different political beliefs. Today these churches are rare. Evangelical churches have risen up and are tightly associated with the right. Born Again and Evangelical are associated with politics as much as they are with religion. (There are even cases of non-religious or other religions adopting those terms.)

While right wing is associated with religious, left wing has been more associated with agnostic. There is a dearth of the "middle". The churches that could appeal to everyone have been dying off. Many small towns have lost their churches. People with fall away from churches due to political beliefs. There are also few avenues for people who are honestly questioning. Churches have represented multiple things. They are provide community, service, moral guidance and spirituality. With them falling away, society is at a loss.

Vigil: A Novel

Vigil: A Novel by George Saunders

Vigil is short. That is good because I was fairly lost as to what was happening. 

Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending, Building a Financial Foundation for You and Your Family, and Creating Lasting Generational Wealth

Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending, Building a Financial Foundation for You and Your Family, and Creating Lasting Generational Wealth by Vivian Tu

The author came from an immigrant Chinese family who wanted what was best for their daughter. They were frugal and were able to save for her to go to University of Chicago. Now she dispenses financial advice to Millenials. It seems to be "save more than you spend, but still enjoy things." There are also long discussions about treating marriage and kids as financial endeavors. Oh millenials.

Two Women Living Together

Two Women Living Together: The Bestselling Korean Memoir by Kim Hana and Hwang Sunwoo

The title describes it well. This is the story of two adult women who live together. They are not romantic partners. They are just friends that care for each other.  They also advocate for better legal protections. Why are rights tied to marriage whether heterosexual or homosexual? What about people that have mutual caring without the romance? There is not a lot of substance to the book, but it does have some interesting thoughts to explore on the different styles of human relationships.

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster

Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster by Jacob Soboroff

A reporter found himself in LA reporting on his hometown of Pacific Palisades burning down. The book tries to straddle the line between detachment and heavy involvement. There are reminiscences of the past in the area as well as jabs at Trump. The fires came right around the transition from Biden to Trump so there is ample time to poke fun of Trump's obsessions. (Many seemed to start off with a rational point and then go off the rails with hairbrained solutions.) The fires come across as surprisingly non-dramatic in the book. There was a lot of hard work and creeping into deserted areas, but not much of the expected personal drama. Maybe we have just become too spoiled with the disaster genres.

Eradication: A Fable

Eradication: A Fable by Jonathan Miles

A person is hired to eradicate goats from an island to disturb the ecological balance. He had no previous experience in the field and struggles with the activity on a physical and philosophical level. He discovers that there are other people on the island illegally fishing for sharks. Should people be playing god? There are some interesting questions explored, but the narration feels distant.

Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life

Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life by Alex Mayyasi, Alex Goldmark, Erika Beras , Mary Childs , Sarah Gonzalez , Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Kenny Malone

Planet Money is an NPR show and podcast that discusses interesting money matters. The audiobook has some highlights which are then translated back to an audiobook. The stories are nice bite-sized pieces that explore economics and money. There are anecdotes and examples illustrating various economic points, including those that appear somewhat counter-intuitive.

The Forest on the Edge of Time

The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride

Some time travelers are sent to different points in time to save the world from ecological destruction. Unfortunately, once of them damages the time machine. One is back in ancient Greek. There she struggles with the culture that includes slavery, but also realizes there are advantages to being back here. The book also explores some time travel paradoxes. Can you really complete your mission if you know all about the past and future? It reminded me a bit of Brandon Sanderson's time travel novella.

Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods

Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods by Michaeleen Doucleff

While this book makes sense, it has a "snake-oil sales" tone. Everything bad is related to screens and ultra- processed food. Sure, there is plenty of negativity with those. But can we really single them out like that? Books were once "bad" and now they are the solution here. There author comes across as a San Francisco Waldorf mom that is really trying to relate to others. The book is primarily a journey with her and her young daughter as they fight screens and "pood". It is a two-way process. You can't have parents addicted to screens and expect the children to avoid them. It is important to have other activities that can be used and provide the interest.

The book spends time discussing dopamine and how things were wrong. It helps drive desire. The fulfilment can be a downer. Slots are an example of crazy addiction. I was playing a stupid phone came for a bit while playing it. I hated it but was still playing. Just the badness it describes. For food, the processed food gets us all the energy in a hurry. We consume the calorie dense junk food quickly and then come back for more and more. Real food takes more work, but gives a better payoff. The discussions all feel sound. But are we missing part of the argument?

Superfan: A Novel

Superfan: A Novel by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

A girl is having a rough time at her first year of college at the University of Texas. She doesn't fit in well, and has few extracurriculars other than a Zine. (But even there, she keeps putting off writing.) She finds solace in a boy band she loves. This band is an American band following the Kpop model. Even further, all but one members are Asian. The girl has her favorites and spends plenty of time online following the band. It is her solace from campus life. Then things seem to put up with an upperclassman boyfriend. Alas, they come tumbling down at a party. She learns the "boyfriend" has other girls. She gets drunk and nearly raped by the boyfriend's roommate. This makes things even worse. On a fan website, she becomes associated with a group that is super involved in the boys and "stalks" them wherever they go. She decides to write her zine article on the band. Her editor has connections that allow them to get behind the scenes. She shares a message with them from the stalker group. Later she is present when somebody injures one of the members (in an attempted assault of the manager.) This causes her to cut ties with the group. She eventually gets on with her life. A few years later, they see one of the band members as a soloist.

The story of the girl is interleaved with the experiences of the band members. They all have different reasons for joining. They work extremely hard, but they are also manipulated by management. A fake gay love affair between two members is staged to gain publicity. (This was also built up by the stalker group.) It shows the dark side of idols and fandoms.

The book had great potential as both a coming of age and fandom novel. However, it went a bit too much over the deep end towards the end.

The Reservation

The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman

John Grisham has made a reservation at a fine dining restaurant in a small college town. Everyone is already a little uptight, and then things get worse. A number of steaks are missing. It seems like an inside job and the manager is trying to get to the bottom of it. Then the dishwasher breaks requiring dishes to be washed by hand. As everyone goes through challenges, we learn more about the past history of the various employees. There are plenty of rough circumstances, but there are people that care for each other. At the last minute Grisham's group cancels the reservation. They discover it was due to bad online reviews (which appear to be part of a smear campaign.) Later a mysterious guy shows up right before closing time and has some conversation with the bartender. He thinks it may have been Grisham. The book ends with the manager granting one of the most loyal employees a big raise. (He has had mental and physical issues, and wants to use it for health care.) The book is loaded with actions, despite spending just one day in one location. You can't help but fall for the many different characters.

I Hope You Find What You're Looking For: A Novel

I Hope You Find What You're Looking For: A Novel by Bsrat Mezghebe

The narrator of the book sounded like a Nigerian (actually an American of Nigerian ancestry), yet the book was primarily about the Eritrean fight for independence. This is like having a German narration for a book on Britain. Sure, they might live relatively close, but they don't sound at all alike. This book primarily deals with a woman and her quest for identity and family and how that related to the fight for Eritrean independence and the lives of African immigrants in the US. There are seeds of an interesting story, that just couldn't surmount the wrong voice.