Is there a commonality between teachers and sumo wrestlers? What about real estate agents and the KKK? Do I have your attention yet?
My attention was immediately captured after browsing through the table of contents for the book, Freakonomics, and seeing these chapter titles. I just finished this book today and it was absolutely fascinating. I'm completely envious of the forward thinking the authors, Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner have. My mind would have never gone to such a place as thinking about whether the legalization of abortion is linked to a decline in the rate of crime, had they not pointed me in that direction.
This book, in my humble opinion, is an ingenious piece of literary work. Pointing out such ideas as, people respond to incentives and conventional wisdom can be a powerful force, are for me, not up for debate. I am still on the fence, however, about what to think on some of the theories this book covers. I can't help but wonder, is my hesitation of agreeing due to moral and cynical boundaries?
I encourage you to check this one out at your local library (or even to purchase - it's worth having on your bookshelf) and think carefully about what you think of this book, its ideas, and its theories. Maybe a healthy debate can unfold! I'm looking forward to L finishing this book so we can discuss this at our next pseudo book club meeting :)
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And what a meeting it will be! 1st off Freakonomics quickly followed by the literary musings of Chelsea Handler. I already have lots of opinions on the abortion/crime rate topic, we will need to take an entire day at the beach for discussion, maybe there will be more high schoolers there to guide our reading :) haha
ReplyDeleteWell I'm glad h.s. girl informed us that "The World Is Flat" is garbage. Cross that one off the list! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved this book. If you dig books like that, I'd recommend "Blink" by Malcom Gladwell. Even better - check it out from the DM library across the street from work on Audio Book. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion, I'll have to add it to my list!
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