Create Your Own Economy

May 18, 2009
In this provocative study of behavioral economics, Cowen (Discover Your Inner Economist
) reveals that autistic tendencies toward classification, categorization and specialization can be used as a vehicle for understanding how people use information. Cowen spends a great deal of time dispelling autism’s societal stigma, arguing that “mainstream society is reaping benefits from mimicking autistic cognitive strengths.” As stimulating as is the premise, the book often feels like its own long exercise in categorization, with each chapter an analysis of the human mania for classification (e.g., the obsession with ranking achievements and endeavors). According to Cowen, human brains are constantly absorbing bits of information that get smaller and are delivered faster as technology advances. The more information people receive, the more they crave—this shorter attention span is far from a flaw to the author, but a liberating mechanism that allows humans time to contemplate more ambitious, long-range pursuits. The relentless analysis is occasionally overwhelming, but Cowen’s illustration of our neurological filing system may help readers understand the mass consumption of information and just about everything else.

October 1, 2009
Two qualitiesthe mental ordering of information and the preference for specific-content types of informationare the designated strengths of autistic individuals and, more importantly, the paths toward understanding our reality and our future. Simplistic? A bit. Yet Cowen, in spite of his occasional intellectual arrogance, seeks to prove how we need to maximize our newfound interiority (i.e., internal mental existence). And in the topics he chooses, either one or both of these mental ordering faculties are at play. Heroes: look at Sherlock Holmes or HouseM.D.s protagonist to understand his point of voice and acquire inspiration. Technology: instant messaging, cell phones, and Facebook all encourage us to pursue identities and alliances based on specific articulative interests. Or storytelling, now with different parameters to order our interiority. Though at the end, Cowens path to prosperity is neither defined nor sequential, it litters our sensibilities with novel ideas to move forward in this uncertain world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)