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ivy_stj's review against another edition
2.0
Though one could argue that Landsburg's a trifle mad, he didn't get it all wrong in this book.
radioactve_piano's review against another edition
1.0
Let me be clear: I chose to give this book one star not because I thought the writing was horrible or the topic unpalatable; I merely disagreed with most of what he said. If I were to rate this book based on emotional reactions while reading it, it would have had five solid stars.
While I appreciate Landsburg's attempts to "shock and awe" the reader into a new way of thinking about economics, I would like to take him to task for two very major issues:
1) Landsburg has a tendency to point out holes in others' arguments while blithely ignoring the holes in his own. Beat down any argument you want, but for heaven's sake, don't ignore the fact that you're not fleshing out the many possibilities in your own. If he'd stated even once that there were countless other possibilities/outcomes/reasons/etc that he hadn't thought of, I would have read with more pleasure.
2) Most statements he made were merely based on his own feelings on a subject's importance/relevance. I'm not saying I'm too sentimental to place value on human lives, or that I can't abide by disagreeing with someone on moral issues. I'm saying he shouldn't have written everything as if his beliefs were the right beliefs.
I guess I just don't like arrogance.
While I appreciate Landsburg's attempts to "shock and awe" the reader into a new way of thinking about economics, I would like to take him to task for two very major issues:
1) Landsburg has a tendency to point out holes in others' arguments while blithely ignoring the holes in his own. Beat down any argument you want, but for heaven's sake, don't ignore the fact that you're not fleshing out the many possibilities in your own. If he'd stated even once that there were countless other possibilities/outcomes/reasons/etc that he hadn't thought of, I would have read with more pleasure.
2) Most statements he made were merely based on his own feelings on a subject's importance/relevance. I'm not saying I'm too sentimental to place value on human lives, or that I can't abide by disagreeing with someone on moral issues. I'm saying he shouldn't have written everything as if his beliefs were the right beliefs.
I guess I just don't like arrogance.
andrewflack's review against another edition
4.0
Really like these kinds of books. Landsburg is a professor at my school and I'd love to take one of his classes after reading this book. The title sums it up: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics. Economics can surprisingly be applied to so many situations in our lives (with results that you might not expect!). Quick and easy to read, very entertaining.
thereaderofbooks's review
2.0
A lot of interesting theories. The sub title is The Unconventional Wisdom, and the theories really are unconventional. I had an issue with the theories as they were just presented and did not provide much data to back the them. In the index the author provides the articles and books in which he got the data from, but to find the articles and books and then read them would take much more time. The author must have thought that people would accept the theories without questioning them. More of the theories could have been acceptable if he showed more research and data. An okay book, but not a great book
yeconomist's review
3.0
There were some interesting arguments that made the book engaging to the reader with ideas I had never before considered. Enjoyed the simplicity of describing economic externality concerns as a "communal stream" problem making it easy to visualize and relate to. However the author seemed very condescending, writing as if he was much smarter than others and had thought of all counter arguments and his way was obviously correct while this did not always seem to be the case. Some sections also seemed sort of repetitive with the same idea just applied in a related context making it seem unnecessary to be individually highlighted and explained again.
amdame1's review
2.0
Catchy title, but does not really deliver on the content. If you are looking for a good informational book about economics type stuff, go with Freakonomics instead.
stephang18's review
4.0
An economist explores how economics explains many areas of life. Two startling facts: 1) shopping cart sizes have accurately reflected the state of the economy by growing and 2) parents of girls are more likely to divorce than parents of boys. The title is a stupid attention grabber which even the author's parents asked him not to use.
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