A Perfect Mess - Erik Abrahamson

Title: A Perfect Mess
Author: Eric Abrahamson
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 7/10
# pages: 336
Date read: October, 2008

Summary: Like Freakonomics, here is a book that combines counterintuitive thinking with stories from everyday life to provide a striking new view of how our world works. Ever since Einstein's study of Brownian Motion, scientists have understood that a little disorder actually makes systems more effective. But most people still shun disorder--or suffer guilt over the mess they can't avoid. No longer! With a spectacular array of anecdotes and case studies of the useful role mess can play, here is an antidote to the accepted wisdom that tight schedules, neatness, and consistency are the keys to success. Drawing on examples from business, parenting, cooking, the war on terrorism, retail, and even the meteoric career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, coauthors Abrahamson and Freedman demonstrate that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, yield better solutions, and are harder to break than neat ones. A Perfect Mess will help readers assess what the right amount of disorder is for a given system, and how to apply these ideas onto a large scale--government, society-- and on a small scale--in your attic, kitchen, or office. A Perfect Mess will forever change the way we think about those unruly heaps of paper on our desks.

Review: A book about why mess in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not quite sure what I thought of it... it was quite interesting, and well written, so I enjoyed reading it, but usually I feel like I should learn something from non-fictional books, and while there was a lot of interesting tidbits, I don't really see what I can use the information for. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!).

That may just be me reading too much into it though, and I did enjoy it (even if it did claim that Copenhagen International School was located in Lund, Sweden. Sheesh!). It's a very amusing account of why we shouldn't price order too high.

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Does My Head Look Big In This - Randa Abdel-Fattah

Title: Does My Head Look Big In This
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Genre: YA, Cultural
Rating: 9/10
# pages: 351
Date read: October, 2008

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full- time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.

Can she handle the taunts of "nappy head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.

Review: YA, but don't let that scare you. It's really, really relevant and really, really well-written. I loved reading about Amal's life, and though her experiences as a Muslim were obviously foreign to me, her experiences as deeply religious weren't. It was interesting to see how similar many of our moral issues were.

I also appreciated the completely unapologetic way Randa Abdel-Fattah described life as a Muslim girl and the prejudice Amal faced - from non-Muslims as well as Muslims.

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