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The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20060325184504/http://www.whatbooks.com/2005/freakonomics.php
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Authors:
Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
Roughcut Description:
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
Average Customer Rating:
Fascinating, Entertaining, and Thought-provoking
The book is engaging and surprisingly humorous read, which opened my mind to a whole new way of looking at the world. It was fascinating to see the synthesis between economics and our everyday lives. Events which seem disconnected or driven by other influences are revealed with great clarity as having basic economic principles behind them.
I can give you an example. Every part starts with an interesting question. Let's say: "What is the hidden cause of obesity in the USA? It is followed by numbers. As a PH.D in Sexuality I can tell you that there are more than 20+ million impotent American men. Many of them are married and their wives are equally, if not more sexually dissatisfied. This results in emotional eating, depression, alcoholism, smoking, etc abuses. Does this have economical effect? Of course yes, because only the blue pill's production earns billions. What can be done? I recommend to my clients staying up-to-date with the latest scientific discoveries revealed in bestsellers such as "Scientifically guarantee male multiple orgasm and ultimate sex" by Alan Ritz.
The book reads as six articles from a quality magazine. Their questions will challenge you, their answers may provoke you, but the book is entertaining, thought-provoking and will likely change the way you view the world around you.
Marilyn R. Barry Ph. D in Sexuality
I am Waiting for Freakonomics - Part II, III, IV....!
I loved it and just to state once again, statistics can be made to prove anything!
It's still a great fun read. I also recently enjoyed Friedman's THE WORLD IS FLAT with an excellent companion book, Brown & Wilson's THE BLACK BOOK OF OUTSOURCING.
They will prepare you for a quickly evolving world of business practice and where the jobs are.
It has next to nothing to do with Economics, freaky or otherwise!
This is a hodgepodge of thoughts on many different topics including cheating Sumo wrestlers, cheating teachers, drug dealers' salaries, abortion of future criminals, adopted children's disadvantages, lower class people's names for their children, etc. The one common thread throughout the book, though, is not economics. It is presenting a contrarian view of these issues. But maybe not that either . . . giving your child an oddball name will likely condemn your child to the underclass . . not because of the name but because you had the wherewithal to give the child that name to begin with. That really isn't contrarian, it's common sense, if anyone ever bothered to think about it.
Some of the statistical treatment in the book was just too dull, too involved, and too irrelevant to add anything to the book. And in other instances, claims were made, particularly about drug dealers, that were so outrageous, that one wonders if the author hadn't just made them up.
A most annoying feature of the book was the author inserting a quotation from an external source about how innovative, intelligent, great, or sensitive he is in front of every chapter. How crass. How about quotes saying how false, incorrect and difficult the author is . . why did none of them get into the book. Some one some where must have voiced or written those opinions too.
In all, the book was not worth going through to pick up just a handful of information that may have been worthwhile. And it has next to nothing to do with Economics, freaky or otherwise.
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DVD's
Fascinating, Entertaining, and Thought-provoking 
It has next to nothing to do with Economics, freaky or otherwise! 
