Because I'm signed up to attend TED2006 next February, I got my first bi-monthly book club package from them today. The regular mailings are meant to keep our brains stimulated with new thinking until the event itself.

In the box was Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. The book is about the radically creative thinking of University of Chicago economist Levitt (read NYT profile linked above).

Also offered is the latest eye candy book from the strategic design firm IDEO, Thoughtless Acts?: Observations On Intuitive Design. The little rubberband-bound book is a collection of photographs showing how people unconsciously adapt to everyday objects, places or situations to produce unintentional design consequences.

I'm chronically behind in my reading--Gladwell's Blink is staring at me from the nightstand--but I may have to drop everything to dive into Freakonomics, which looks fascinating.

- mike lee - washington, dc