Book Review - Superfreaknomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

If I had to use one word to sum up this book I would use "Meandering" and not in a bad way. It is interesting and has lots of statistical data !


 

 Some of the topics covered include -

 
  • Global warming ( but ofcourse !! :) ) - Some unconventional methods to reverse the warming.
  • On People - If we are by nature altruistic or selfish
  • How to catch a terrorist using data mining techniques ; one of the variables is life insurance
  • Prostitution - many areas in this topic
  • Drunken driving vs Drunken walking
  • Doctors washing their hands ( and yes most don't seem to !!! )
  • How safe are car seats vs seat Belts for kids and so on ....

There is a vast amount of diverse information packed in a good narrative style. It is more like a fiction book with non-fiction data ! :)
 

But I must admit the section on being a female in India made me cringe - not that what is written is not the truth because it unfortunately is and the arrow strikes too close to home.

I do not think this book has the impact of their first book "Freakonomics" or perhaps the "freak" of the first book - they seem to have lost some punch and are unconvincing in some of their arguments.

Also some insights seem more common knowledge than something that challenges preconceptions. Like the information on women dying during childbirth due to doctors not washing their hands. Or even people needing incentives to be more altruistic ( may be a cynical knowledge ! :) ).

  
All in all - an enjoyable but hardly a must read.

 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the heads-up Vidya. Whether its a book or a movie, I have always ridiculed sequels. So, at a 15-20% risk of losing genuinely good material, I will safely skip these - Ocean's Twelve, Super Freakonomics, Road Less Traveled and Beyond, The Eighth Habit (or whatever it is called) and countless others.

Vidya said...

8th habit - have not yet read .. so no comments
NI ( not interested ) in Ocean's 12 ....

I may have read "Road less travelled and beyond" but right now not even sure .... so I guess if I can't even remember .. that book is obviously a wash out !!! :))))

But Covey has couple of good works .... ( not sequels .... so may be that was the key ) and although some points may repeat .. the books are very very good to read .... I recommend "First things first" - there were so many things I liked in this that I found it difficult to condense ! :)) And though have not read "Principle centered leadership" - have heard it is very very good too [ It is in my to-be-read category ..... this apart from the 7 habits ofcourse ..... :))

"Lila" by Robert Pirsig ( not a sequel really ) is in my to-read but man that is a think-heavy book - have picked it up a few times and had to keep down :))) Not in the right frame of mind for it ....

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