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I have recommended and/ or loaned out the original Freakonomics countless times: the ultimate marriage of easy read and wildly perspective changing focus using micro/ macro economics. This book feels like an appendix using some B-sides.
Still good!
Still good!
Who wouldn't want to read a book that explains why the price of oral sex has dropped so significally, why terrorists should buy life insurance, and why a street prostitute is like a department-store Santa? By the way, the answer to the first question is that since the advent of the sexual revolution, so many women are willing to have sex for free that the competition has caused prices to drop. Who knew? I loved Freakonomics and this book runs a close second. And to think that I dreaded taking economics in college. If it had been taught like this, you couldn't have kept me out of the classroom.
This book is a little dated (discussing global warming as if it were still paused, for example) but most of the discussion is pretty timeless. Discussions about how rarely doctors in hospitals washed their hands were shocking, especially given how long we've known how important this is. The information about prostitutes having day jobs and only being prostitutes during high demand times was interesting as I had generally thought that most prostitution was under a pimp. Overall I really enjoyed this book. Also, the epilogue was hilarious talking about prostitute monkeys, a story I had heard before but not in detail.
Not quite as interesting as the first book but still enjoyable.
I LOVED Freakonomics. As an economics major in college, I found it to be absolutely fascinating reading about behavioral economics. Superfreakonomics is more of the same, but not quite as gripping as the original. It addresses topics ranging from the wages of prostitutes to the difficult task of getting health care workers to wash their hands. The underlying theme of these books is how incentives change behavior . . .and you can kinda extrapolate how there are SO many unintended consequences from rules and regulations instituted by the government. Definitely a fast paced and interesting read, but if you haven't read it, then start with Freakonomics.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Joe and I listened to this book on a recent road trip and maybe it's because we were listening and not reading it, but we just couldn't get into it. It wasn't entertaining us as we had hoped. And I really got tired of listening to the details of prostitution after an hour (I fast forwarded through the rest of the chapter). I don't know. This one just didn't do it for me like their previous book.
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
This just barely made 2 stars. It annoyed me right from the start when they made a stupid glib comment about 'you should drive home drunk because it's safer than walking drunk!' and didn't ever redeem itself. It felt even faster-paced and shallower than the first book, although it might be that I have less patience for the style now that it's everywhere.
While still a good read, not quite as good as Freakonomics. The most interesting discussion was probably the prostitute section, and the least interesting (which was one of the largest) was global warming. Interestingly enough, even monkeys when taught of currency will pay for sex :)