Freakonomics is a refreshing, thoroughly enjoyable, easy reading, fast paced, witty and cynical breath of fresh air! Levitt and Dubner offer up a series of pointed, thought provoking essays composed in jargon-free layman's language that are loosely connected through a theme revealed in the book's sub-title - the hidden side of everything!
Incentives, or disincentives and deterrents, are examined as to their effectiveness in achieving the outcomes anticipated by those people, corporations or government organizations who designed them. We quickly learn that when incentives are applied in the context of our own philosophies and objectives, the outcomes may not be precisely as might have been originally intended.
The power of information, disinformation, information symmetry or asymmetry, perceived or real, and information hoarding in the form of secrecy is looked at from the point of view of determining its effect on our reliance on and opinions of "experts" and on our own strength in the process of negotiation or development of a contract. The authors' use of the KKK, real estate agents and the Internet as enormously disparate examples of information hoarders or disseminators is, in a word, inspired and informative.
The rather contentious issues of abortion vis-à-vis US crime rates and the relationship between race, economic status, parenting and scholastic achievement are used to demonstrate the enormous pitfalls in distinguishing between causality relationships as opposed to simple correlation.
I believe my personal background in mathematics and physics has allowed me to appreciate the deeper meaning of these essays from a scientific point of view. But, I'm concerned that in doing this, I may give rise to the profoundly mistaken impression that "Freakonomics" is some turgid economics exposition that's as dry as a Death Valley dust storm. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Read it! Enjoy it! Laugh at it and think about what you've just read. If you never again look at a social phenomenon and accept it at simple face value without a raised eyebrow and a little more questioning attitude, then I believe that Levitt and Dubner will have achieved their goal.THis book 250 pages long.I will give it 4/5.
