Freakonomics - by Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The legendary bestseller that encouraged millions of readers to look at the hidden side of everything

Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? What do real estate agents and the KKK have in common?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life--from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing--and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives--how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and--if the right questions are asked--is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

This revised and expanded edition of the book contains a smattering of bonus material, including selected Freakonomics columns from The New York Times Magazine; a Q&A with Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner, and Angela Duckworth; and the New York Times Magazine profile Dubner wrote about Levitt that started it all.

Review Quotes

"The funkiest study of statistical mechanics ever by a world-renowned economist... Eye-opening and sometimes eye-popping" - Entertainment Weekly

"If Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be Steven Levitt... Mr. Levitt is famous not as a master of dry technical arcana but as a maverick treasure hunter who relies for success on his wit, pluck and disregard for conventional wisdom. Mr. Levitt's typical quarry is hidden not in some exotic locale but in a pile of data. His genius is to take a seemingly meaningless set of numbers, ferret out the telltale pattern and recognize what it means... Freakonomics reads like a detective novel... Economists, ever wary of devaluing their currency, tend to be stinting in their praise. I therefore tried hard to find something in this book that I could complain about. But I give up. Criticizing Freakonomics would be like criticizing a hot fudge sundae.... The cherry on top of the sundae is Mr. Levitt's co-author, Stephen Dubner, a journalist who clearly understands what he is writing about and explains it in prose that has you chuckling one minute and gasping in amazement the next. Mr. Dubner is a treasure of the rarest sort; we are fortunate that Mr. Levitt managed to find him. I think I detect a pattern." - Wall Street Journal

"A delight . . . fascinating. . . . It shows, in fact, what plain old-fashioned economics can do in the hands of a boundlessly curious and superbly skilled practitioner." - The Economist

"Freakonomics was the 'It' book of 2005." - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"If Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be Steven Levitt. . . . Mr. Levitt is famous not as a master of dry technical arcana but as a maverick treasure hunter who relies for success on his wit, pluck and disregard for conventional wisdom. His genius is to take a seemingly meaningless set of numbers, ferret out the telltale pattern and recognize what it means . . . Freakonomics reads like a detective novel. . . . Criticizing Freakonomics would be like criticizing a hot fudge sundae." - Wall Street Journal

"An easy, funny read. Many unsolvable problems the Americans have could be solved with simple means." - Business World

"Levitt employs statistical tools that are simple yet elegant. He cuts to the heart of a question and picks topics that are fascinating. All social scientists should ask themselves if the problems they are working on are as interesting or important as those in this superb work." - Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences.... Steven D. Levitt will change some minds." - Amazon.com

"Principles of economics are used to examine daily life in this fun read." - People: Great Reads

"Instructive and entertaining... the trivia alone is worth the cover price.... It might appear presumptuous of Steven Levitt to see himself as an all-purpose intellectual detective, fit to take on whatever puzzle of human behavior grabs his fancy. But on the evidence of Freakonomics, the presumption is earned." - New York Times Book Review

"The trivia alone is worth the cover price." - New York Times Book Review

"An econ tome for both freaks and geeks. . . . Armed with the attitude of a puzzle solver and the tools of statistical economics, Levitt finds different ways to get answers. . . . In his hands, economics, far from being a dismal science, is a tool for the curious." - Fortune

"We think we know how the world operates, but we really don't.... Freakonomics uses the science of economics and concrete data to challenge our assumptions about everything....You'll walk away with not only a few good party tidbits, but also a more critical eye to many things presented as fact." - Harvard Business Review

"One of the decade's most intelligent and provocative books." - The Daily Standard

"Freakonomics challenges conventional wisdom and makes for fun reading." - Book Sense Picks and Notables

"Provocative... eye-popping." - New York Times Book Review: Inside the List

"The guy is interesting!" - Washington Post Book World

"An unconventional economist defies conventional wisdom." - Associated Press

"A showcase for Levitt's intriguing explorations into a number of disparate topics.... There's plenty of fun to be had." - Salon.com

"Hard to resist." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Freakonomics is politically incorrect in the best, most essential way.... This is bracing fun of the highest order." - Kurt Andersen, host of public radio's Studio 360 and author of Turn of the Century

"An eye-opening, and most interesting, approach to the world." - Kirkus Reviews

"Steven Levitt has the most interesting mind in America... Prepare to be dazzled." - Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point

"Levitt dissects complex real-world phenomena, e.g. baby-naming patterns and Sumo wrestling, with an economist's laser." - San Diego Union-Tribune

"Levitt is a number cruncher extraordinaire." - Philadelphia Daily News

"Levitt is one of the most notorious economists of our age." - Financial Times

"If Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be Steven Levitt... Criticizing Freakonomics would be like criticizing a hot fudge sundae." - Wall Street Journal