I finished up A Culture of Corruption a couple of days ago. Good book, although a bit academic, but as I’ve not read anything within the field of Anthropology since .. the beginning of time, it was still very enjoyable. Suggested read if you can live with all the references and academic language. Also contained a collection of good stories which really illustrates the daily life in Nigeria, and makes you look on both the 419-scammers and the general consensus of corruption in Nigeria in a new light.
As I finished that book, I’ve now started the next book reading project: Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions. The book has been very enjoyable through the first five chapters, and provides a unique insight into how people make decisions when time is the most limiting factor. I feel very familiar in regards to my own experiences from situations where time has been the primary constraint in finding a good solution to a problem. The situations from the research that gave rise to book is very serious in nature, such as firefighters, nurses, rescue personell etc, but I’ve experienced the exact same thought patterns in less serious issues. A downed important webserver, a web application that does not work as it should for some reason or the other, an internet connection malfunctioning and making your entire business unavailable from the internet are not life-threatening in any way, but still important in just that moment.
Anyways, I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of the book as it’s been both easy to read and have very good insights into an unfamiliar field of research for me.