Rate: 5/5
Medium: Audiobook
Overview (No Spoilers): Freakonomics has been on the periphery of my radar for years now, however up until recently I never had the initiative to pick up this title. My curiosity was piqued after listening to a Freakonomics podcast with a coworker, coming away duly impressed with the research and interviews conducted. By the end of the thought provoking podcast, I was logging into my local library to add my name to the holds list for the book that started the Freakonomics craze. Within minutes of beginning this audiobook, I knew this book was going to be right up my alley. Levitt perceives the world in such a unique and fascinating way, ultimately formulating his observations and curiosities into questions, whose solutions are often markedly contradictory to the answer that common intuition would suggest. If you are a closed minded individual, this book is probably not for you. In Freakonomics, complex topics are explained, dissected, and wrapped within stories in a way that allows the reader to follow along in an effortlessly hooked manner. I wonder at the extent that Dubner shaped Levitt’s ideas into reading material that was user friendly or perhaps their partnership was evenly balanced throughout this project. The subject matter covers a wide array of topics from drug dealers and cheating teachers, to real-estate agents, abortions, swimming pools and crime rate. Overall, I highly recommend Freakonomics to any one that enjoys a book that will push their perception of general public knowledge.
The Critiquing Chemist 
Have you read “The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail – But Some Don’t” by Nate Silver? I think it’s the same kind of format that I imagine Freakonomics is. I read it several years ago and really found it interesting.
I probably should give Freakonomics a try, too.
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I’ve heard of Nate Silver because he’s from Michigan but I didn’t know he had a book. Thanks for the recommendation Maria! I will need to look it up!
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Great review! After reading this, I went to my podcast and downloaded one of the freakonomics episodes. I can’t believe I haven’t heard of them before! I’ll definitely be looking for the audiobook/book as well 🙂
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I’m glad you downloaded the podcast! My coworker loves their segments!
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I’m really enjoying it, too. Latest one I listened to was really fascinating, it was about spite and what happens when you mix economy with spite.
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So glad you reviewed this book! I have had it in the back of my TBR list for a long time 😁
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Thanks Alicia! You’ll enjoy this book once you get around to reading it! I understand the concept of too little time, too many books though!
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I’ve also had this one lingering on my TBR forever and wondered if it was really something I’d be interested in. Great review!!
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Oh I think you’ll really enjoy this book! Let me know what you think when you get a chance to read it!
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Such a great book!
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I agree! 🙂
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[…] Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner […]
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I’m glad you loved this book! It’s been a favorite of mine for a while 🙂
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Thanks AKBookworm! This book was great. have you read anything else by Levitt?
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[…] Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner […]
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