So I was all proud of myself for actually posting the review of the Einstein book, which I had finished reading a week or so ago when I decided to sit down and start reading one of the new books I had purchased for myself today. Freakonomics was brought to my attention during a discussion about politics, legislation, and abortion. Now I must admit to being a big fan of economic theory, but I feel that almost anyone would have their interest piqued if I were to tell them that its been shown that Roe vs Wade was responsible for the sharp decline in crime in the late 90’s.

So already suckered in I sat down to read. That started about 6 hours or so during which I read on and off. Those six hours have earned me an even greater respect for the methods of economics when applied to real life. The book covers a number of recent issues seemingly unrelated to economics, but when viewed through the economic lens of incentives, are suddenly illuminated with new light. The topics range from the aforementioned abortion and crime link to why teachers help their students cheat on standardized testing, and cover in between why real estate agents rip you off, why sumo wrestlers cheat, why people name their kids stupid names, why people don’t steal as many bagels as they could, and many more.

The book itself is well written with Dubner smoothing out the economic theory of Levitt. The subject matter as mentioned above is relevant and interesting. The whole tone of the book is somewhat mocking and somewhat ironic, but most of all informative. Really what is encouraged is the challenging of conventional wisdom, which while conventional is not always right. The book I feel should be read by just about everyone it is that good, and while you may not agree with what the authors have to say you certainly will look at things in new ways. Now on to the amazing history of salt I go.