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BOOK
Irrational Exuberance
Robert J. Shiller
$8.59

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CNBC, day trading, the Motley Fool, Silicon Investor--not since the 1920s has there been such an intense fascination with the U.S. stock market. For an increasing number of Americans, logging on to Yahoo! Finance is a habit more precious than that morning cup of joe (as thousands of SBUX and YHOO shareholders know too well). Yet while the market continues to go higher, many of us can't get Alan Greenspan's famous line out of our heads. In Irrational Exuberance, Yale economics professor Robert J. Shiller examines this public fascination with stocks and sees a combination of factors that have driven stocks higher, including the rise of the Internet, 401(k) plans, increased coverage by the popular media of financial news, overly optimistic cheerleading by analysts and other pundits, the decline of inflation, and the rise of the mutual fund industry. He writes: "Perceived long-term risk is down.... Emotions and heightened attention to the market create a desire to get into the game. Such is irrational exuberance today in the United States."

By history's yardstick, Shiller believes this market is grossly overvalued, and the factors that have conspired to create and amplify this event--the baby-boom effect, the public infatuation with the Internet, and media interest--will most certainly abate. He fears that too many individuals and institutions have come to view stocks as their only investment vehicle, and that investors should consider looking beyond stocks as a way to diversify and hedge against the inevitable downturn. This is a serious and well-researched book that should read like a Stephen King novel to anyone who has staked his or her future on the market's continued success. --Harry C. Edwards

BOOK
Exuberance: The Passion for Life
Kay Redfield Jamison
$8.52

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With the same grace and breadth of learning she brought to her studies of the mind’s pathologies, Kay Redfield Jamison examines one of its most exalted states: exuberance. This “abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion” manifests itself everywhere from child’s play to scientific breakthrough and is crucially important to learning, risk-taking, social cohesiveness, and survival itself.

Exuberance: The Passion for Life introduces us to such notably irrepressible types as Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, and Richard Feynman, as well as Peter Pan, dancing porcupines, and Charles Schulz’s Snoopy. It explores whether exuberance can be inherited, parses its neurochemical grammar, and documents the methods people have used to stimulate it. The resulting book is an irresistible fusion of science and soul.

BOOK
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (Stonewall Inn Editions)
Bruce Bagemihl
$13.10

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Bruce Bagemihl writes that Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity was a "labor of love." And indeed it must have been, since most scientists have thus far studiously avoided the topic of widespread homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom--sometimes in the face of undeniable evidence. Bagemihl begins with an overview of same-sex activity in animals, carefully defining courtship patterns, affectionate behaviors, sexual techniques, mating and pair-bonding, and same-sex parenting. He firmly dispels the prevailing notion that homosexuality is uniquely human and only occurs in "unnatural" circumstances. As far as the nature-versus-nurture argument--it's obviously both, he concludes. An overview of biologists' discomfort with their own observations of animal homosexuality over 200 years would be truly hilarious if it didn't reflect a tendency of humans (and only humans) to respond with aggression and hostility to same-sex behavior in our own species. In fact, Bagemihl reports, scientists have sometimes been afraid to report their observations for fear of recrimination from a hidebound (and homophobic) academia. Scientists' use of anthropomorphizing vocabulary such as insulting, unfortunate, and inappropriate to describe same-sex matings shows a decided lack of objectivity on the part of naturalists.

Astounding as it sounds, a number of scientists have actually argued that when a female Bonobo wraps her legs around another female ... while emitting screams of enjoyment, this is actually "greeting" behavior, or "appeasement" behavior ... almost anything, it seems, besides pleasurable sexual behavior.

Throw this book into the middle of a crowd of wildlife biologists and watch them scatter. But Bagemihl doesn't let the scientific community's discomfort deny him the opportunity to show "the love that dare not bark its name" in all its feathery, furry, toothy diversity. The second half of this hefty tome is filled with an exhaustive array of species that exhibit homosexuality, complete with photos and detailed scientific illustrations of the behaviors described. Biological Exuberance is a well-researched, thoroughly scientific, and erudite look at a purposefully neglected frontier of zoology. --Therese Littleton

BOOK
Natural Hormone Balance for Women: Look Younger, Feel Stronger, and Live Life with Exuberance
Uzzi Reiss
$8.52

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In Natural Hormone Balance for Women, Beverly Hills obstetrician-gynecologist Uzzi Reiss makes it clear that he believes in hormone replacement therapy for women, but not the "chemicalized hormonal substitutes" usually prescribed. "I emphasize natural hormones that are precise replicas of your own hormones," he writes, which can increase energy and memory, decrease symptoms of menopause and PMS, improve skin and mood, and enhance sleep, sexuality, and well-being. But neither the widely used hormonal medications, such as estrogens derived from horse urine, nor the "natural" hormonal products derived from soy or yams replicate the hormones produced by a woman's body. Rather, he recommends a natural estrogen formula balanced with natural progesterone, both available through compounding pharmacies (with a doctor's prescription).

Dr. Reiss and talented cowriter Martin Zucker explain why, how, and when to use natural hormones. This is not a snappy, one-size-fits-all program--rather, you, with the involvement of your physician, learn how to analyze your needs and individualize your treatment for your own optimal hormonal balance. Reiss describes the benefits and uses of natural estrogen and progesterone, then discusses other natural hormones that might be helpful: testosterone, human growth hormone, DHEA, melatonin, and pregnenolone. This is a provocative book that's worth sharing with your doctor. --Joan Price

BOOK
The Age of Exuberance: Backgrounds to Eighteenth-Century English Literature
Donald Greene
$6.95

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BOOK
Irrational Exuberance
Robert J. Shiller
$38.99

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BOOK
Toward Rational Exuberance: The Evolution of the Modern Stock Market
B. Mark Smith
$14.95

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BOOK
Exuberance: The Passion For Life
Kay R. Jamison
$20.00

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BOOK
Irrational Exuberance
Robert J. Shiller
$39.99

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BOOK
Rational Exuberance: Silencing the Enemies of Growth and Why the Future Is Better Than You Think
Michael Mandel
$0.40

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Michael J. Mandel, chief economist of BUSINESSWEEK is the country's most passionate partisan for exuberant economic growth. In the mid-1990s, he was one of the first journalists to use the term "New Economy" to describe the fast-growing but volatile U.S. economy, supercharged by technology and finance. Mandel's understanding of the true underpinnings of the 1990s economy led to his prescient warning that the Internet bubble was about to burst, which he predicted in his book THE COMING INTERNET DEPRESSION.

Now Mandel is issuing another warning. Without exuberant, technology-driven growth, the U.S. economy will lack the firepower to solve its social problems. Without breakthrough innovations like the internal combustion engine or the Internet, the U.S. economy simply can't create enough jobs or wealth to provide for its citizenry.

Yet exuberant growth is stigmatized as immoral by some and bad public policy by others. And economists, surprisingly enough, are the biggest enemies of innovative, transformative growth. Mandel, a Ph.D. in economics himself, believes his colleagues in the dismal profession are a big part of the problem. Focusing on what he labels the single biggest failure in modern economics, Mandel blames NEW YORK TIMES columnist Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and Greg Mankiw, President Bush's head of the Council of Economic Advisers, for misleading generations of students and slanting public policy against scientific innovation.

Lively, opinionated, and controversial, Mandel's thinking will serve as a rallying cry for the creation of a new political coalition dedicated to economic growth. He calls on Silicon Valley to take their case to Washington, and to shift the debate from arguing about trade and budget deficits to solutions, such as more support for research, start-ups, and workforce training. Mandel is sure to kick-start that debate.