$20.80

Hardcover

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Most of the books I read and review are out of the mainstream. This is a well-hyped bestseller that has gotten a lot of press. Although I think the book is overrated, I highly recommend it. Well written and fun to read, this book will probably convince you that "Incentives are the cornerstone of the modern life," and "knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world less so."

The book explores and analyses a number of unique situations, from cheating by school teachers and Sumo wrestlers, to the economics of crack dealing, and much more. The book is worth reading, if only to make the reader aware that "conventional wisdom" is often wrong.

The thesis and data about how abortion is really the cause of the dramatically declining crime rate in the United States is enough to make the book worthwhile.

The bottom line is that this is definitely a good read, but hardly the greatest thing to ever come down the pike from an economist.

Review by Len Oppenheim

20% off hardcover