Book recommendations

I just finished Michael Lewis’s new book, The Blind Side. It’s very good.

Lewis twines together two stories. One is a story about talent markets — how changes in the speed
and power of certain defensive positions in football caused a change in offensive strategy, which in turn made a previously obscure position, the left tackle, the highest paid position in the game. The other is the remarkable story of how a black teenager from west Memphis, who’d spent much of his childhood homeless and hadn’t played football until he was 16, was adopted by a white, evangelical family from tony east Memphis and became the top left tackle prospect in the country.

Like Moneyball, this book wraps insights about strategy and sociology into a truly great read. Lewis’s mastery of narrative is amazing. As a writer, I’m jealous. As a reader, I’m grateful. Highly recommended.

Also recently read: Mind Performance Hacks, which was a bit geeky but has a few good takeaways for increasing personal productivity; Bound by Law, a comic book (!) rendering of the principles of copyright and fair use.