Summer sales

The UChicago Bookstore doesn't die during the warmer months.

Freakonomics.jpgSales still happen during the summer at the U of C Bookstore on East 58th Street, even if they're a little slower. People still need their T-shirts and polos, says Kai Douglas, who was working at the checkout counter when I stopped in yesterday. The maroon, gray, and white tees with the University seal are popular, she says, as are the cream-colored quilted zip-up vests. Older customers seem to buy a lot of polos, and campus visitors must have heard things about Chicago winters, because the sweatshirts on the clearance rack are pretty hot too.

Lest you think the U of C is all about fashion, people are still buying those things called "books" (even though there's a whole counter up front selling e-readers). Employee Eric Cioe, AB'09, showed me a list of the bookstore's best-selling faculty and alumni books from the past month:

1) Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by econ professor Steven Leavitt (Interestingly, his follow-up, SuperFreakonomics, is selling much fewer copies than the original.)
2) How Judges Think, by Richard Posner, senior lecturer at the Law School
3) Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, by Chicago Booth professor Raghuram G. Rajan
4) Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, by Charles Wheelan, PhD'98; and Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Chicago Booth professor Richard Thaler
5) The Ideological Origins of American Federalism, by assistant law professor Alison LaCroix; and Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need For Social Connection, by psychology professor John Cacioppo

Ruthie Kott, AM'07

July 22, 2010