Buy the by

So, I had a brilliant idea today. I thought I would be productive and go do some research. I tend to have an aversion to libraries after many unfortunate sessions of lugging a HUGE pile of books back to my dorm from the far-flung Harvard libraries. I figured I would head over to Barnes & Noble, which is right down the block, and just read through some of the business school materials they had. They have a cute little coffee shop (with amazing flavors!) where people often sit and read. Usually, I feel like this is cheating the system or something. I always think, man, they are basically getting a free book by doing that. In fact, there was someone in there today with an SAT prep book that was actually doing problems from the book and then put the book back on the shelf!

Anyway, I decided that if B&N was just going to accept this behavior, who was I not to take advantage of the situation? I bought a coffee to assuage my guilt (and three other books...) and sat down to read about writing a winning essay. I figured I had read a lot online, but this book might have a few good tidbits. Well, I got really absorbed in it and decided to buy it. I'm such a sucker. Maybe that's why B&N lets people sit down to read their books there. Once you realize you can't read the whole thing in one sitting and you are emotionally invested in the content, you feel like you have to get it. Anyway, if it's any good, I will post the review on here to lead others in that direction. =)

I also got The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. He came to speak in one of my economics classes. He's amazing - so charismatic and passionate about his ideas. Plus, the guy is just brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed his lecture and I am very much looking forward to reading his book. He deals mostly with the economics of third-world countries and how environmental factors affect their economics. I find his theories intriguing and would love to be involved in something someday that puts some of his ideas into practice.

The other two books are for my nephew, who is 2. They're much lighter reading. =)