The "New York Times" bestselling "Freakonomics" was a worldwide sensation. Now, 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? Who adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Did TV cause a rise in crime? Can eating kangaroo meat save the planet?
Whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically, Levitt and Dubner show the world for what it really is--good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, superfreaky.
Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given to the most influential American economist under forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to business and philanthropy.
Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning journalist and radio and TV personality, has worked for the New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio and Tell Me Something I Don't Know.
Show more
The "New York Times" bestselling "Freakonomics" was a worldwide sensation. Now, 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? Who adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Did TV cause a rise in crime? Can eating kangaroo meat save the planet?
Whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically, Levitt and Dubner show the world for what it really is--good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, superfreaky.
Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given to the most influential American economist under forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to business and philanthropy.
Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning journalist and radio and TV personality, has worked for the New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio and Tell Me Something I Don't Know.
Show moreSteven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of
Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given to the most
influential American economist under forty. He is also a founder of
The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to
business and philanthropy.
Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning journalist and radio and TV
personality, has worked for the New York Times and published three
non-Freakonomics books. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio and
Tell Me Something I Don't Know.
Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and radio
and TV personality. He quit his first career--as an almost rock
star--to become a writer. He has since taught English at Columbia,
worked for The New York Times, and published three non-Freakonomics
books.
After their runaway hit Freakanomics, Levitt (economics, Univ. of Chicago) and journalist Dubner (Turbulent Souls: Choosing My Religion and Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper) return with new investigations. Readers will learn how the cure for childbed fever-a simple matter of doctors washing their hands-was teased out of hospital mortality statistics. The authors also examine the consequences of a garbage-collection tax imposed in Ireland: the intention was to reduce waste, but it led homeowners to burn trash in their backyards, and this tripled the rate of people setting themselves on fire. Other topics include the economics of prostitution, whether reducing carbon emissions to stop global warming stacks up against hard scientific evidence, and how a computer algorithm assists in the identification of possible terrorists. Verdict Readable, irreverent, insightful, and an exemplary representation of analytical thinking, this is for readers who like to think-or possibly be infuriated.-Lawrence Maxted, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
Economist Levitt and journalist Dubner capitalize on their megaselling Freakonomics with another effort to make the dismal science go gonzo. Freaky topics include the oldest profession (hookers charge less nowadays because the sexual revolution has produced so much free competition), money-hungry monkeys (yep, that involves prostitution, too) and the dunderheadedness of Al Gore. There's not much substance to the authors' project of applying economics to all of life. Their method is to notice some contrarian statistic (adult seat belts are as effective as child-safety seats in preventing car-crash fatalities in children older than two), turn it into "economics" by tacking on a perfunctory cost-benefit analysis (seat belts are cheaper and more convenient) and append a libertarian sermonette (governments "tend to prefer the costly-and-cumbersome route"). The point of these lessons is to bolster the economist's view of people as rational actors, altruism as an illusion and government regulation as a folly of unintended consequences. The intellectual content is pretty thin, but it's spiked with the crowd-pleasing provocations-"`A pimp's services are considerably more valuable than a realtor's'" -that spell bestseller. (Nov.) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
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