Erik Larson - Vive le Livre Speaker: Home Overview of the books of Eric Larson, critical commentary, interviews, biographical information and similar works in the genre. Erik Larson in Huntsville Wed. Erik Larson. From Library Journal: "Larson, a business journalist, takes a somewhat paranoid look at how market researchers and giant databanks invade our privacy and compile vast amounts of information that could be used against individuals or groups.
However, in spite of being studied like bugs, consumers still manage to confound the researchers. While Larson acknowledges that, if marketing campaigns were perfectly aimed, people would receive ads for products that they wanted, and that they might even welcome this attention, the effort to find these customers is viewed as sinister, because of the chance of the wrong people accessing the information.
David Duke's candidacy is cited as an example of the danger. Larson also explores and deplores political pollsters' effects on elections. This title might interest both market researchers and the public because of its detailed accounts of ongoing research.
It would have appeal in public libraries with business or consumer collections. Lethal passage : how the travels of a single handgun expose the roots of America's gun crisis by Erik Larson Call Number: From Library Journal: "In this work, Larson interweaves the story of a boy and his gun a year-old who kills one teacher and wounds another with a member of the infamous MAC family with a study of the causes and effects of our gun-happy society. He admits that he has no problem with using handguns for sport or even as a last line of self-defense.
But he goes on to propose a model bill calling for sweeping changes in laws governing the distribution, sale, and design of firearms. It's a pity that, by producing a reasonably balanced account of an incendiary subject, Larson will probably alienate both the pro- and antigun camps, and his bill, as he acknowledges, "doesn't have a chance in hell of being passed. Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publisher's Weekly: "Torqued by drama and taut with suspense, this absorbing narrative of the hurricane that inundated Galveston, Tex.
