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487 reviews for:
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
Steven D. Levitt
3.7 AVERAGE
487 reviews for:
Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
Steven D. Levitt
3.7 AVERAGE
They have done it again! Another book that causes you to pause and think... but in a good way not in the “is this class going to ever be over why did I choose this?!” way. I listened to the audiobook and recommend it!
This was distracting & thought provoking & connects with the observation that we’re all living in our own, opposing, self-validating (& satisfied?) bubbles & it’s quite helpful in showing some ways to step back & be more objective, measured, persuasive & realistic...
When to quit - & when quitting isn’t really quitting at all - is especially thought provoking (maybe because it’s at the end if the book?!) What’s weighing me down & can I off-load it?
Being deliberate & in full possession of all the facts, understanding what’s happened before & what is & is not relevant & taking informed risks are all encouraged here... I might give it a go!
Either way, this was well worth the read!
When to quit - & when quitting isn’t really quitting at all - is especially thought provoking (maybe because it’s at the end if the book?!) What’s weighing me down & can I off-load it?
Being deliberate & in full possession of all the facts, understanding what’s happened before & what is & is not relevant & taking informed risks are all encouraged here... I might give it a go!
Either way, this was well worth the read!
Really liked this, just repetitive with a lot of other stuff I’ve read
Offers an interesting approach to root cause analysis.
Think Like a Freak" is a book written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, the same authors of the bestselling book "Freakonomics." The book aims to teach readers how to approach problems in new and innovative ways by retraining their brains to think like a "freak."
Some of the main takeaways from the book include:
Think Like a Child: The authors suggest that we should embrace our inner child and approach problems with a fresh perspective. This means being curious, asking questions, and being willing to experiment and take risks.
Incentives Matter: The book emphasizes the importance of understanding how incentives drive human behavior. By understanding the incentives that motivate people, you can better predict their behavior and create more effective solutions.
Think Small: The authors encourage readers to focus on small, manageable problems and to tackle them one at a time. By breaking down big problems into smaller ones, you can more easily find solutions and make progress.
Learn to Admit What You Don't Know: The book stresses the importance of being honest about what you don't know. By acknowledging your limitations, you can ask better questions and learn from others.
Don't Be Afraid to Think Outside the Box: The authors encourage readers to challenge conventional wisdom and to be creative in their thinking. By thinking outside the box, you can discover new solutions to old problems.
Overall, "Think Like a Freak" offers a unique and refreshing perspective on problem-solving and encourages readers to approach challenges in new and innovative ways.
Some of the main takeaways from the book include:
Think Like a Child: The authors suggest that we should embrace our inner child and approach problems with a fresh perspective. This means being curious, asking questions, and being willing to experiment and take risks.
Incentives Matter: The book emphasizes the importance of understanding how incentives drive human behavior. By understanding the incentives that motivate people, you can better predict their behavior and create more effective solutions.
Think Small: The authors encourage readers to focus on small, manageable problems and to tackle them one at a time. By breaking down big problems into smaller ones, you can more easily find solutions and make progress.
Learn to Admit What You Don't Know: The book stresses the importance of being honest about what you don't know. By acknowledging your limitations, you can ask better questions and learn from others.
Don't Be Afraid to Think Outside the Box: The authors encourage readers to challenge conventional wisdom and to be creative in their thinking. By thinking outside the box, you can discover new solutions to old problems.
Overall, "Think Like a Freak" offers a unique and refreshing perspective on problem-solving and encourages readers to approach challenges in new and innovative ways.
This was a way to help you change how you think through stories. All were interesting and a quick read.
Meh. Nothing super great here, especially if you listen to the podcast.
As always, an enjoyable read from Levitt and Dubner. I enjoyed the slightly different focus of the book—a little more "how to come up with these cool stories" mixed in with the cool stories. My big disappointment? Nearly everything in here had already been presented in their podcast, so it was a bit of a rehash for me. Readers who like the Freakonomics franchise and don't listen to the podcast will probably be thrilled.
Fun book to read or listen to for entertainment, but I would suspend accepting the conclusions of the specific stories/examples in the book as true. There are numerous variables involved in any social experiment, and there can be alternatives to a given cause-and-effect claim. Consult other studies first.
With that said, this is still a quick and fun book that will tickle your brain a bit.
With that said, this is still a quick and fun book that will tickle your brain a bit.
(Listened to audiobook) If you listen to the Freakonomics podcast you can skip the book; it's basically a greatest hits collection of the last couple years of episodes. Per normal for Levitt and Dubner, the content is fascinating: how did a thin Japanese man shatter a longstanding hot dog-eating record? How can you bait terrorists into revealing themselves? (The authors executed this feat with a chapter in their previous book.) Why did one multinational retailer continue to spend millions on newspaper ads they knew were ineffective? This book won't radically alter how you see the world, but it will shift it a few degrees.