(photo stolen from Amazon.com)
Ok, the reason why I told you to read the book is that it has received an incredible amount of hype. So much so that there is no way that it could live up to all of it. Yes, it is a really interesting book. It asks unusual questions. It makes you think. You find yourself finding economics fun. However, it is not the book of the century. Perhaps because I consider myself a policy analyst with an economics persuasion, I found myself poking holes in Levitt and Dubner's arguments. The authors talk a lot about the importance of not confusing correlation with causality, but then they go on and do just that. As I read some of the chapters, I thought of all the omitted variables and externalities they did not consider. Perhaps this book is better for someone with little to no training in economics. Now do not get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book. Even within the field of economics, I prefer applied economics like this, as opposed to the theory in textbooks. I just think it is impossible for it to ever live up to its reputation. But I am still looking forward to reading Super Freakonomics. Overall, I recommend this book to everyone, just know that it is not the best book ever written, and for those of you who know something about economics, some of the methodology and assumptions are questionable.
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