We read Freakonomics this week. It presented interesting ways to think about things, but it wasn’t shocking or awe-inspiring. Most disappointing was the final chapter about name choices in which the author decided to list about 500 names (many duplicates). The points could have been made without the long lists of names. The rest of the book was data-lite, so it’s not clear why this chapter was so thorough (to put it politely).
The first chapter was rough. The author presented a bunch of theories with no support. However, the later chapters were used to actually support those theories and thus make the arguments a little more succinct. My favorite chapter was about the inner workings of the crack-cocaine world. I would recommend this book, but be prepared to hear a lot of talk about abortions, which is neither good nor bad, it just is and is a good thing to know going in.
Eco Flick Lab 