Some interesting reads: adoption, cops with tanks, math, and deceit.

[matt819]

Well, at least I think they're interesting.

I generally slog through non-fiction as penance for reading as much crime fiction that I do. At the end I feel smug and very self-righteous, and then head on back to Scandinavian crime fiction, serial killers, and the like.

OK, here's what I'm reading at the moment:

The Child Catchers: I'm only a few chapters in, but I am horrified by what I'm reading. In short, it addresses what seems to a burgeoning adoption movement among American evangelicals. Basically, their goal is to create as many little evangelicals as they can, adopting many multiples of children, and it doesn't matter where from - eastern Europe, Haiti, Ethiopia, Korea. Frankly, I find the whole thing disgusting, but maybe that's just me.

Math on Trial: About the use - or really misuse - of math in the courtroom. Most of the stories deal with the use of percentages to prove that the defendant is the only possible person on the planet who could have committed the crime. Of course, the prosecution is mostly wrong. Interesting story about Charles Ponzi. Quite the character.

Rise of the Warrior Cop & Government of Wolves: About the rise of militarized police departments and questionable (to say the least) police tactics, the use of SWAT teams to collect overdue library fines, and the like. I've just started both, but I'm enjoying them. I believe that the author of Rise of the Warrior Cop is a dyed-in-the-wool libertarian, but given the subject matter, that's not a bad thing.

Tangled Webs: Using just a few incidents from recent years/crimes, James B. Stewart delves into how and why we lie and, well, how we create tangled webs. I've read a few of Stewart's books. He's a good writer and storyteller.