I like the books “Liar’s Poker” and “Boomerang”. So when audible offers a discount of “The Fifth Risk”, I have to take it. I don’t know what’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th risk? Or probably the author explained at some point but I missed; or probably it’s a common knowledge that I don’t know–as a non-native English speaker, I know that happens more often than I would like to think existed. I like the part about the transition team and the weather service, but somehow manage to miss the part about data and how important data is for effective governing. It seems to me that the book is going from one place to another, without the good focus of his previous books I read. Still I like his book no matter how he writes it and intend to read all his books except “The New New Thing”, in which the author’s admiration for Silicon Valley clouds his usual ability of critical evaluation.
There’s another reason why I like Michael Lewis’ book–I would like to read such a non-fiction book about Asian immigrants, but I haven’t found it so far. The author makes mundane description of government procedures and everyday execution of routine steps more interesting than they really are. This fascinates me as much as one of those authors being able to describe tennis matches as if they are not so boring and repetitive. For some writers, nothing is too boring to be put down in phrases and a few sentences would entice the readers to dig in.
Haoyan Do 