

Loading... SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide… (2009)by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
![]()
No current Talk conversations about this book. Intellectual cotton candy that started alright and then careened into pure speculation and dogmatic thinking. Micro-economics is not in my humble opinion the reasoned study of nearly everything that has cause and effect (or at least observed or even theorized exchange) as Levitt seems to claim at the end of the book. "Thinking like an economist" isn't some kind of dispassionate system 2 superpower - and economics has a fair share of problems looking backwards, let alone near complete failure at times forecasting forward. Fun enough, but not nearly as good as Freakonomics. ( ![]() Been a while since I read Freakanomics, so hard to compare. From what I can remember, they might as well be packaged in one volume, being stylistically identical with no differences in aproach. While thought-provoking, neither is challenging, and both go down better in large gulps, quaffed in one or two sittings (at least that's how I managed them). The authors present astounding information on nearly every page, showing again and again how easily we are deceived by appearances, and what usually remains unseen. Microeconomics is endlessly fascinating to me, offering an approach to human behavior that is applicable to all disciplines. Been a while since I read Freakanomics, so hard to compare. From what I can remember, they might as well be packaged in one volume, being stylistically identical with no differences in aproach. While thought-provoking, neither is challenging, and both go down better in large gulps, quaffed in one or two sittings (at least that's how I managed them). The authors present astounding information on nearly every page, showing again and again how easily we are deceived by appearances, and what usually remains unseen. Microeconomics is endlessly fascinating to me, offering an approach to human behavior that is applicable to all disciplines. Much like the first book "Freakonomics", this book covers a variety of topics from the difficulties of making comparisons of doctors in the emergency room to seat belts, and global warming to prostitution. The authors provide interesting perspectives and a different way to think about common topics. Good read, but I felt like I had already heard nearly everything from the podcasts.
Levitt and co-author Stephen Dubner's new book "Super Freakonomics" is a follow-up to their super smash 2005 bestseller, "Freakonomics." Thank goodness they are back -- with wisdom, wit and, most of all, powerful economic insight. If ever two writers were likely to suffer from "difficult second book" syndrome, it's Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of the smash-hit Freakonomics, which made them the rock stars of the economics world. The economist and the journalist again attack the concept of the rational man, via studies involving monkeys, banking records, and doctors. Yet there’s an artfulness missing this time around in their circuitous paths toward obvious conclusions like “technology isn’t always better” and “men and women are different.” The difficulty with the book is that while the focus may be fairly fuzzy to begin with, it gets a lot fuzzier as it goes on. There’s a long passage about how people behave differently when they’re being scrutinised – thus making a nonsense of most behavioural experiments – and an even longer one about global warming. Belongs to SeriesFreakonomics (2) Is contained inIs a (non-series) sequel toHas as a commentary on the text
Whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically, Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling to show how people respond to incentives. No library descriptions found. |
Popular covers
![]() RatingAverage:![]()
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author.
|