Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Book Review: Worth owning and keeping on your bookshelf.
Summary: 5 Stars
An accessible well written enjoyable work on economics that offers unique insights to today's big questions. It is a timely work with which ever reader should become familiar.
When I was an undergraduate, although I studied the hard sciences, I found economics to be the most impenetrable counterintuitive subjects I had ever encountered. I wish I had this book then.
But this is much more than a book about economics as the authors offer new perspectives about just about everything through economic theories. Some of the underlying ideas are not completely new but even those are brought to a satisfying fruition. This book gives the reader a unique view of the world through an economist's eyes. Events which seem disconnected or driven by other influences are revealed with great clarity as having basic economic principles behind them. Through this vision the world, a world which sometimes seems in chaos, becomes a web of underlying economic principles.
A winner.
Book Review: Best book I've read in several years.
Summary: 5 Stars
Rarely can a book balance intelligence and truly unique insight with the ability to be amusing and accessible. This one does it seemingly without effort and you will absoultely tear through it, feeling wiser when you finish.
I was an economics major in college and was fortunate enough to have a professor who made micro-economics usable, interesting, and fun the way Levitt does in this book. Levitt analyzes some of our society's really interesting questions like the real reason crime went down in the 90's and the real ability parents have to impact their kids. His approach and his answers are equally fascinating and you don't need any economics background to understand or enjoy what he's saying. Instead of the typical "follow the money" approach, Levitt uses a slightly broader and more micro-economic approach of "follow the incentive." The results will leave you shaking your head in amazement at how obvious they seem now that they've been clearly presented to you.
Levitt has done nothing short of presenting a new and insightful way to look at the world in a manner that is both penetrating and fun. Quite an accomplishment. Very highly recommended.
Book Review: Plant City Girl is incorrect.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you perform a Google search of "Steve Sailer" and "Slate," you will find an e-mail exchange between the author and Mr. Sailer that took place on Slate in 1999. No such "debunking" took place, and in the end, his review was hardly "devastating."Book Review: Fascinating Freakonomics
Summary: 5 Stars
Freakonomics opened my mind to a whole new way of looking at the world. It was fascinating to see the synthesis between economics and our everyday lives. Levitt and Dubner have written a thoroughly engaging and surprisingly humorous read. They have made economics accessible to the non-economist and taught us to challenge "experts" and conventional wisdom. I highly recommend this one!Book Review: A fun, interesting, and provocative book.
Summary: 5 Stars
While I'mnot generally inclined to read economics books, Freakonomics is very, very accessible. The book is written in clear, readily understandable language (including the best description I've ever seen of regression analysis, causality, and correlation). The topics discussed are quite interesting - why crime REALLY went down in the 90's, the impact parents can REALLY have on their kids, and several others. Whether one ultimately agrees with the authors' conclusions or not, the book certainly encourages you to think about everyday things more critically and not just accept the conventional wisdom.
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My only disappointment is that the book wasn't longer!