Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 330 EAN: 9780061234002 ISBN: 0061234001 Label: William Morrow Manufacturer: William Morrow Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: October 02, 2006 Publisher: William Morrow Release Date: October 17, 2006 Sales Rank: 208 Studio: William Morrow
Rather shallow for a book about depth
Quite disappointing. Not enough substance to sit on my shelf. There are only a handful of relationships explored: the 90's US crime dip, parenting effects on children's school performance, teacher cheating on standardized tests and a few more anectotes. My main complaint is that the authors fall victim to the same mistakes they criticize. Also I fail to see much connection with economics in any of it. Most importantly: ABSENCE OF PROOF IS NOT PROOF OF ABSENCE! Just because your study does not show a correlation does not mean no relationship exists. The authors unfortunately seem to fall for this time and again. Social study data should be interpreted with caution already. More scrutiny would benefit the book. Also, despite a disclaimer in ... Read More
Challenging Conventional Wisdom
Just returned from a trip, and finished one of the more interesting books on economics. The authors of Freakonomics disclaim any unifying theme to their book, and the title isn't much help either, but here's how I'd summarize it.
The book looks at various social trends such as the large drop in crime rate in the US from the 1980's to 2000, causes for child success and reexamines some of the causes for these events. It shows that how some commonly-held views are not backed by analytical or statistical data and that better insight may be gleaned from understanding the incentives behind the behaviour or trend.
The man behind these ideas is Steven Levitt, who digs up all kinds of surprising and fascinating truths that ... Read More
Great Book!!!
Loved Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything! Very insightful, easy to read. First heard of the book on the TV show Boston Legal and thought the reference was interesting so I went online and bought it. Bought one for my 24 year old son who also loved it.
good book
i bought Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything as a holiday gift for my brother, but he said it was really good - hence the 4 stars.
Pretty good
Freakonomics' strongest asset is its blunt force mauling of conventional wisdom and the often unveering faith that journalists, experts and ordinary folks pay it, often only to serve (sadly) their own interests. When that is the authors' approach they deliver sound arguments. That, thankfully, is the core premise of the book.
While it is too piecemeal, and cute, to be called boring, the breathless exploration of the economist's actual findings at times borders on the mundane. Much of his intesive number-crunching about teacher cheating, Sumo wrestling and (especially!) baby names and various parenting fallacies can only be considered redundant to the observant reader.
People like me (who aren't economists and who aren't ... Read More
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