global cooling, patriotic prostitutes, and why suicide bombers should buy life insurance
Hardcover, 270 pages
English language
Published Dec. 13, 2009 by William Morrow.
The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world.Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as:How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?Can eating kangaroo save the planet?Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is-good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky. Freakonomics has been imitated many times over-but only now, with SuperFreakonomics, has it met its …
The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world.Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as:How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?Can eating kangaroo save the planet?Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is-good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky. Freakonomics has been imitated many times over-but only now, with SuperFreakonomics, has it met its match.
I found this book quite short and simplistic.
Very interesting, yes, but it was like five articles and then the book was over.
Recommended? Yes. Did I expect more? Damn yes.
I liked Freakonomics, which had a lot of neat anecdotes and correlations, but this second opus is, in my opinion, a failure. It starts well, and after half of the book or something, they start talking boring nonsense about climate. Didin't like it.
Not quite as interesting or as compelling as their first book, but worth the time. There seems to be a fair amount of overlapping material with parts of "The Rational Optimist."
GAve this a try and was enjoying it but it sort of fizzled out for me. Will try again soon.
Less a coherent book and more a collection of thought on various topics. It's a very interesting read, and they use their economic background to look at things in a different, and often refreshing way.
However, I didn't feel this was as good as their first book, Freakonomics. It feels less researched, and more as if they just wanted to get a second book out the door. There were a number of places where I felt they were influenced by their own personal biases instead of drawing a really objective conclusion. So, still an interesting read, but if you haven't read either I'd recommend the first book instead.
Overall, most of the book was interesting, but the authors have a tendency to digress and go on a few tangents. Often, it takes them a while to make their actual point for a particular chapter. The chapter on prostitution to me was the most interesting. The last one on global warming, while it raises some interesting ideas, was just too long and overdone. By this point in the book, I was just waiting for the book to end. A little editing could have helped. On the positive, it is not a terribly long book, so you can probably read it in a day or two. It does include extensive notes if you wish to read those as well. If you liked the first book, you will probably like this one too.
so far, I'm not impressed this time around. Many others now trod these paths, though Levitt started it.
