The Bottom Line
- Freakonomics is easy to read and understand
- Interesting subjects covered in accessible way
- Plenty of cocktail party conversation starters
- Very little methodology included in Freakonomics
- Not much new content since New York Times Magazine article
Description
- Questions like "Why do drug dealers still live with their mothers?"
- Easy to read, interesting narrative shows the relevance of answers to crazy questions
- Uses economic analysis to answer interesting questions and turn conventional wisdom upside down
Guide Review - Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - Book Review
Sound dull? That's because you have not read the articles or Freakonomics yet. I was skeptical that Freakonomics would hold my attention, but once I started reading it, I had trouble putting it down. The writing was fresh and the content engaging. I found myself interested in what school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common and amazed at how much relevance the answer had to my life.
Levitt and Dubner maintain that "if morality is how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work." They also show that conventional wisdom is often a convenient way to think about a problem more than a correct way to think about it. Freakonomics asks some good questions, and it inspires readers to do the same. The appeal of Freakonomics lies not in the answers it gives, but in the revelation that answers exist and can be discovered if only we know the right questions to ask.
