Wisdom is the first book of any length that I’m reading entirely in electronic format, and so far I’ve found the experience to be unremarkable. In a good way. Once I’ve settled in the medium fades away and I’m totally immersed, as I should be. The text itself is full of wonderful bits of trivia in addition to a compelling argument about the ability of independent, diverse, decentralized groups to produce incredibly well-informed (even prescient) solutions given a sufficient means of aggregating individuals opinions.

Soccer in a Football World, on the other hand, contains not bits of trivia but feasts. I’m well into the book and still only into the 1920s and ’30s, when soccer seemed to have a fighting chance against gridiron football, even if it lacked the requisite toughness needed for such a fight. If only the USFA (now US Soccer) and the ASL could have gotten along, maybe things might have turned out differently. During the ’90s and early ’00s football fathers may have been the target of marketers and politicians alike, and the recent retirement of John Madden would have passed without notice.

So much for initial thoughts. Back to the books!

• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
• The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
• iCon Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer
• Soccer in a Football World by David Wangerin

At this point I’m leaning towards one of the last two, since I enjoyed reading Offside so much.

At least that’s what ZDF told viewers after the game.