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 enlarge | Author: Steven D. Levitt
Creator: Stephen J. Dubner
Publisher: HarperAudio
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $5.95
You Save: $24.00 (80%)
New (5) Used (23) Collectible (1) from $5.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  1581 reviews
Sales Rank: 257194
Format: Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0060776137
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780060776138
ASIN: 0060776137
Publication Date: May 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Very interesting, but also very biased October 26, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Five stars for the quality of writing as far as interest and readability, as well as good awareness of the misuse of statistics. Three stars for bias, and ironically, the misuse of statistics.
 An Intellectual Snack October 24, 2008
If you have ever been curious as to how Sumo wrestlers cheat or if you wanted to know the details of how abortion has reduced crime then this snippet of easy to read economics is for you. The flashy, colorful and fun examples were obviously written for the layman. The details are limited though cataloged appropriately so each can be looked up if the reader wants to dive deeper elsewhere. There is a hint of political told-you-so in some of the stories that debunk conventional wisdom concerning crime rates and class structure but they would hardly be offensive to interested onlookers. The freak in me loves it when an author says, "You might want to skip this section," because that is usually when the story gets good. In terms of entertainment, Freakonomics was worth the taste and since you can swallow it whole in a couple days there really isn't any good reason not to open wide.
 One Amazing Book October 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Being a double major in both Economics and Finance I have been forced to read many textbooks in the area of economics. These textbooks are filled with examples that are dull and unrealistic. After reading Freakonomics written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, I have a whole new understanding of economics. My understanding is now much deeper than the basic supply and demand curve that I have learned in the past. It is now at such a micro level that I can understand the relationship that a sumo wrestler and a school teacher have or why the Ku Klux Klan is like a group of Real- estate agents. All of this was learned throughout the novel Freakonomics.
The author Steven Levitt is known as one of the greatest economists under forty and after reading this book I can totally understand why. He presents the material in a way that makes you want to keep reading the book for hours at end. Each chapter that he writes focuses on a very specific economic issue and ends up making you an expert in that area in twenty minutes or however long it takes you to read the twenty page chapter. Not only are the topics that he talks about interesting but he is able to tie together two totally different groups of people or ideas together in a way that you could only imagine. For example, how could a person even think about saying that a school teacher is similar to a sumo wrestler and have enough information to back up the idea. To be honest I was really a skeptic until I read the chapter. If you read the book you will find out that the underlying reason why a teacher and sumo wrestler are similar is because they both cheat to get ahead. A sumo wrestler might throw a match to help out his fellow wrestler make it to the next stage where he will win more prize money. A teacher might help their students on standardized exams by changing their scantron sheets or putting answers on the board solely to get a pay raise by the school. The underlying theme is that these two groups of people that are totally different from one another on so many levels really have the same goal which is to make more money.
The one thing that makes Freakonomics different from a normal economics text book that I enjoyed most was the fact that the author uses all real life examples. I understand that this book is suppose to read like a novel rather than a text book, but the examples are the reason that makes this book far superior than any other that I have previously read. Some of the titles of his chapters are: "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms," "Where have all the criminals gone," and "What makes a perfect parent." All of these chapters focus on the same key idea by incorporating three or four real life examples. In the chapter, "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" Levitt talks about how it is hard for drug dealers to make money and how only a handful of them actually can make a really living out of dealing drugs. I found it interesting that eighty five percent of the people that deal drugs have another job as well. This is because dealing gives you street credit and protection from other dealers or gangs. I really could not believe that most people deal drugs just for protection. If that fact is amazing in itself can you believe that drug dealers have death benefits as well? If you die while dealing drugs your family gets two years of what your salary would have been. Drug Dealers are truly in their own little world. Throughout this chapter he talks about real life scenarios that have actually happened to his friends that have gone undercover. Everything that he talks about in his book even the chapters that are the most outlandish are backed up by cold hard facts.
The material in Freakonomics is presented in a way that makes any reader from any background able to understand the material. You do not have to have an economics or a business background to understand what he is getting at. All you have to have is an open mind. Levitt made this book to satisfy all skeptics. He makes claims that on the surface are very hard to believe even some that are beyond your wildest dreams but by the end of the chapter you understand where he is coming from and how he got there. That is the best part of the book in my opinion. Levitt really does a great job mapping out a thought process for his readers which enables them to ultimately come up with there own thesis on each of the subjects that he presents.
Overall, Freakonomics was really a great book to read. If I were the head of the economics department at SMU I would make all first year economic students read this book. It would not only make them start thinking like an economist but would really help spark their interest. If I were to rate this book I would give it the highest possible ranking. It does everything that it sets out to do and more. This book really reaches all audiences in so many levels. Where else could you learn about why a drug dealer still lives with his mother or why a sumo wrestler is like a school teacher? The answer can only be found in Freakonomics.
Surprisingly Enjoyable. Unless You're an Econ Nerd. October 22, 2008
I was apprehensive about this one. It had all the makings of a book I would loathe. Two authors, a catchy, goofy title, simplistic analyses. The only thing this one lacked to make its literary cliche complete was Oprah's stamp of approval.
It should be a wonder then that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Chapters like the incendiary attack on the real estate profession, the stark comparison between the celebrity dreams of Hollywood starlets and Ghetto drug traffickers with about equal return on time invested and the survey of parental educational backgrounds and the names with which they curse their kids made for some fascinating reading. But nothing was more interesting than the comparison between reduction in crime rates and legalization of abortion even if the authors fall into their own post hoc ergo propter hoc trappings.
Yes it was simplistic. Yes some econ geeks will be screaming "correlation vs. causation." Yes, Leavitt is no David Ricardo. But if it's Ricardo you want, go drink some afternoon tea with the rest of your humorless friends since you probably won't get any of the satire in this book anyway.
Quick, Interesting Read -- more like Sociology than Economics October 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very interesting. I expected to hunker down and "learn something" with this book, but found that I read through it as fast as a mindless fiction novel. Topics and thoughts put forth by the author are controversial for sure. His theory about abortion and crime rates is certain to ruffle feathers. But I believe that his conclusions are theories, not necessarily proven truths about why certain phenomena exist in our society. And while I think at first glance his ideas sound discriminating, I can tell he is compassionate about people and interested in understanding how groups of people are affected in a "big picture" kind of way. I definitely learned something about the business of drug marketing. I see this book as less economics and more sociology, although the author himself and sociologists would disagree. It was a very interesting book.
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