Has anyone read Freakonomics: ?

[glen]

The arrived via Amazon yesterday, and I read 3/4th of it yesterday becasue it was so fascinating.

 

[Taggart]

nope

I am reading a book by Michael Collins about his experiences in the Gemini and Apollo programs.

 

[xospec1alk]

i read it at barnes and nobles...i started reading it to see if i would enjoy it...next thing you know, i had finished the book...

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: Taggart
nope

I am reading a book by Michael Collins about his experiences in the Gemini and Apollo programs.

I started reading that post and thought you were reading about the Irish revolutionary.

Edit: clarity

 

[Aharami]

whats the book about?

 

[glen]

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe

 

[geecee]

Very interesting (and controversial) book. His abortion/reduction in crime theory, although supported by his numbers and arguments, is a theory that could be just as unpopular with the left as it is the right. His names analysis was a little more light hearted but still very interesting.

 

[0roo0roo]

read it when it came out. interesting i guess.

 

[techs]

that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun
I KNEW it. Guns don't kill people, water does.

 

[glen]

Do you think parents tend to be more educated if they name their son DeShawn or Jake?
Jazmine or Emily?

 

[Lorax]

haven't read it, but i suspect it is a bit frustrating since the book comes to some somewhat logical conclusions that the govt doesn't do anything about.

i think there's an official blog for the book that is pretty decent.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: techs
that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun
I KNEW it. Guns don't kill people, water does.

How many kids drown vs. get shot accidentally?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: geecee
Very interesting (and controversial) book. His abortion/reduction in crime theory, although supported by his numbers and arguments, is a theory that could be just as unpopular with the left as it is the right. His names analysis was a little more light hearted but still very interesting.

i don't think it's even his theory. i've read the actual journal article elsewhere. i wrote a law and economics paper based on it, in fact

 

[glen]

that it?

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: glen
that it?

R

 

[anonymouschris]

read it, didn't like it much.

 

[Amplifier]

Is this the one that said aborting black babies would save money?

 

[Apex]

I'm most of the way through it. Very interesting read.

 

[sygyzy]

Yes, amazing book. I finished it in a few days.

 

[glen]

I read the whole book, but I must have missed the chapter on how much money an Asian man needs to make to date a white girl.
What Chapter is it in?

 

[glen]

Hey

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: glen
Hey

hi

 

[SVT Cobra]

I plan to read it after hearing about his violent crime theory.

 

[glen]

What page tells asians how much money to earn to get the white womez?

 

[Dunbar]

In the chapter about online dating.