About: A follow up to the original freakonomics with stories about topics ranging from thinking-outside-the-box folks, global warming, prostitution, and a few social economics issues.



Pros: Sources cited, varied subjects

Cons: I think I'm done with this type of book. Became bored about halfway through

Grade: C ( )

Great critical thinking deserves our following and these guys do it again. This book runs a little more rambling than their first outing but no doubt many readers will appreciate the extra detail and hover over every significant finding. The book produces an outcome of thinking that leans to the cynical: Everything accepted by the mainstream is proven futile. How, then, to get the mainstream out of the mainstream and into a more productive current? There is the unanswered question of the book. Perhaps the answer is; us, the now-enlightened readers.

PS: Not as many delectable anecdotes as their first but still lots of chewy details.
:) ( )

This is a great book to listen to while driving in ones car. I did that with Freakonomics and enjoyed this book in the same manner. The sequel probably isn't quite as fascinating as the original, but it's pretty darned close. These two guys have a really unique way of looking at why things work as they do in the world. They also have their fingers on the pulse of some fascinating solutions being considered for global warming. If you have an interest in why the world works as it does, I'd highly recommend this book. ( )

Once again, Levitt and Dubner apply economist techniques to a variety of interesting topics, including prostitution, global warming, terrorism, altruism, and fundamental healthcare. Like the last book, some of the revelations are startling -- for instance, you are 8 times more likely to die in a drunk-walking incident than you are in drunk driving incident. A more central theme to the book though isn't the manipulation of data to reach surprising conclusions, but that data alone isn't going to change human behavior. Much is written about the literally hot topic of global warming -- Al Gore is probably right in stating that if we are going to change our behavior to alleviate the problem we are dangerously behind the eight ball. A better solution posed by some brilliant minds, however, suggests we will never get to that point -- the imperative isn't aligned with our motivation. The solution is counter-intuitive, and given the lack of environmental understanding that led to this mess, a suspiciously risky one, then again, we do know more now than we knew in the past, and perhaps the risk isn't so great after all.

Like the first book, this one is shorter than I wanted it to be. The epilogue in particular I found fascinating, although I suppose elaborating on it goes rather beyond the scope of the book. It involves monkeys learning to use money...and what they ultimately learned they could buy with it. ( )

another fascinating read. ( )