"If morality represents the ideal world, then economics represents the actual world."

Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is an intriguing book. The book is unique in the sense that (as the authors proclaim multiple times), it has no unifying theme. The book's format is simple: It poses a question to the reader, and goes about answering the question using data. These questions are very interesting ones, such as what the reasons behind the sudden drop in crime rates in the US in the 1990s were, why drug dealers live with their mothers, how significant is the impact of certain parenting techniques on children, and so on. Some of these questions may be trivial, whereas some seem important. The authors then go about answering these questions by analyzing data. The conclusions drawn are fascinating, but after a while, they seem quite obvious. The book also occasionally presents snippets of the data used, and shows how the authors came to the conclusions. In some sense, the book's objective is to reveal the hidden side of things.To me, Freakonomics presented a completely new way of thinking - using data. It showed me the significance of data analysis, and how it can be used to answer such diverse questions. However, towards the end, my interest in the book dwindled sligtly, as the book became a touch monotonous. Nevertheless, the book was all in all an insightful read, and I recommend it to just about anybody who would like to understand the "Freakonomic"(using data to reveal the hidden side of things) way of thinking.