AP book club: Coming of Age in New Jersey

Today will be the first entry in what might be an occasional series, if I don't get bored with it. Welcome to the Attempted Polymathematica Book Club! When I read a book, I might share with you what I think about it.

I just finished Coming of Age in New Jersey by Michael Moffatt, an anthropological study of Rutgers students in the 1980's. There are two chapters on the sex lives of his students, and of course the prurient parts got the most attention after the book was released. If you're interested in that stuff there's lots of detail here. The most interesting part to me, though, was the last chapter on the school lives of the students. He noted that a substantial minority of his sample was vigorously involved in their education and were proactively choosing good classes with an aim to expanding their horizon. It was certainly possible to skate by, but those who wanted to could benefit from a fabulous education.

Another interesting point was his observation that before the 1960's, collegiate culture was distinctive from adolescent culture as a whole, whereas by his time (and certainly now) it is not. The increasing number of people seeking college educations is probably one cause of this -- I wonder what the broader implications of this change are for higher education as a whole.

By the way, if you want to see what I'm reading, there's a Goodreads gadget on the right side of the page that shows the books I'm in the midst of. Take a look, and if you have suggestions for things you think I'd be interested in, let me know.

Economics slapfight

I guess when you win a Nobel you don't have to argue, you just get to call your opponents stupid. Check out this takedown of Krugman by Bryan Caplan. I'm not qualified exactly to judge the economics here but name-calling is a poor substitute for argument.