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Quick, fun, easy read that makes you think while it makes you laugh. It's brain candy that inspires you to wonder "what if?"
Another breezy jaunt through the world of micro-economics. I think what makes this series a success is how they focus on data and/or studies from real-life "experiments". Instead of a jumble of curves and equations, they manage to entertain readers, yet make the salient point that "incentives do matter".
Just about as good as the first book (especially the chapter comparing prostitutes to Santas and the authors analysis of terrorists and the Kitty Genovese murder) although I am undecided about how I feel about the last chapter about global warming.
Interesting, but not as great as the original Freakonomics
Although I didn't quite agree with everything being sold here it was an interesting read. It sure is a new way of looking at things.
loved this book
breezed through it
wish it were longer
breezed through it
wish it were longer
Levitt and Dubner's second anecdotal-sort-of-economics-but-really-sort -of-sociology book. Topics include: whether a pimp or a realtor provides more of a service, seasonal prostitution, doctors and handwashing, why friends don't let friends drunk walk, finding terrorists in bank data, and whether car seats are really useful for children over two. Interesting if you like this sort of book. Can be tangential/correlative at times, and obviously not a textbook/full on academic, but that's kind of the point. Worth reading to the end for the part on monkey prostitution. Also much less irritating that Outliers.
‘Many of life’s decisions are hard.’
Three of the five chapters of this book are presented as questions:
How is a street prostitute like a department store Santa?
Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance?
What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo have in common?
The other two are:
The fix is in ... and it’s cheap and simple
Unbelievable stories about apathy and altruism.
These two chapter titles aren’t quite so catchy, but there is some really good material buried within on topics such as the benefits of hand washing and the benison of fertiliser. Posing questions in the form of catchy chapter titles is one way to get people’s attention, and much of the material presented is entertaining and thought-provoking. But what about the conclusions? Can it possibly be true that there is a cheap fix for climate change? But how do we (globally) measure ‘cheap’, and who determines whether it is effective?
I found the various anecdotes interesting and generally entertaining. But I found myself wondering whether this book added materially to the ground already covered so successfully in ‘Freakonomics’. Clearly, for some readers, it does. I’m not convinced.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Three of the five chapters of this book are presented as questions:
How is a street prostitute like a department store Santa?
Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance?
What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo have in common?
The other two are:
The fix is in ... and it’s cheap and simple
Unbelievable stories about apathy and altruism.
These two chapter titles aren’t quite so catchy, but there is some really good material buried within on topics such as the benefits of hand washing and the benison of fertiliser. Posing questions in the form of catchy chapter titles is one way to get people’s attention, and much of the material presented is entertaining and thought-provoking. But what about the conclusions? Can it possibly be true that there is a cheap fix for climate change? But how do we (globally) measure ‘cheap’, and who determines whether it is effective?
I found the various anecdotes interesting and generally entertaining. But I found myself wondering whether this book added materially to the ground already covered so successfully in ‘Freakonomics’. Clearly, for some readers, it does. I’m not convinced.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith