Books I've read recently

Not that anyone cares, but here are some good books I've read the past few months:

• Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. If you enjoy good novels, please read this. If I start describing it, I'm sure some people will start to dismiss is it as "one of those books." Please give it a chance.
• Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. A suprisingly fast read for an economics book. Entertaining and informative as it helps the reader to understand the need to think through large data (not necessarily about money) to find underlying trends.
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. This is not a fast read and was intended to be thorough explanation why some societies had advanced technology (and germs) and conquered those that did not. While it does get repetitive, it is very well researched and planned. It gives a very solid answer to why there were societal differences based not on racial explanations but on geographical advantages that gave some groups a head start.
• Fight Club If you liked the movie, you'll like the book. I'm not sure that's true in reverse. I was surprised at closely the movie followed the book. I could actually see the scenes in my head and some of the visual additions (like the movie cigarette burns). There were a few differences but not much. Short, fun read.

Free Time

I have moved into the part of the semester that gives me plenty of free time. My last class was last week on Thursday. The way the schedule is set up, my students don't take their math final exam until next Wednesday night. That's two weeks of sitting on my bum trying to fill the time. So I'm trying to catch up on my neglected projects, including this blog.

Some other things that I would like to accomplish includes: visiting some areas of Beijing I'm not familiar with, shopping, hanging pictures around the apartment, reading books, and playing my collection of video games.

If anyone has any suggestions for things that I could do to fill my time, I would appreciate it.