Review – Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner

The book Freakonomicss by Steven D.Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner is one that has received critical acclaim and attention. I managed to get round to reading it a while back and it doesn’t dissapoint.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

An excerpt from the book’s back-cover synopsis:

The answer: Freakononomics. It’s at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it’s all about using information about the world around us to get to the heart of what’s really happening under the surface of everyday life.

My Opinion of the title

Although billed as an economists’s musings; it is a very accessible title and the book could ven be classified as general interest. The book, for anyone looking for an entertaining read, will like it. In a nutshell, the book takes a look at all sorts of things in society.

Levitt’s topics run the gamut, from racism on ‘The Weakest Link’ to parallels between the KKK and real estate agents to the reason why drug dealers tend to live with their mothers, and he attacks all of his questions with ingenuity and tremendous skill. According to the book, economics is really the study of incentives, and so using this kind of angle, the book comes up with answers to why things work the way they do.

Personally, I put this book up – as I think more than the exact examples it examines, Freakonomics leaves you with a certain attention to detail. I notice, interpret and approach situations in a different. Looking beyond the obvious and past explanatiosn that are spoonfed on a plate. A phrase I have often heard is:

Correlation does not imply causationUnknown

and I hoenstly only full appreciate its meaning after reading Freakonomics. A great title that offers entertainment but something more for those that are willing, at the risk of sounding cliche – to think outside the box. A book that’s hard to put down, I’m sure many readers will enjoy it. Also recommend The Sixty-Second Motivator for a more simplistic explanation of what motivates people and gives them incentives to do what they do.