Freakonomics - A Rouge Economist Explore the Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt
Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics doesn’t have time for lengthy discussions on economic theories or statistical formulas.  It’s book that you always wished you had in school, that one choice title that convinced you that you had found your calling.  Freakonomics is the type of revolutionary title that allows you to pull back and reexamine the way you looked at a particular subject.  In essence it’s is an entirely new way to think about the information that abounds around us; the type of information that we never really bothered to see the significance of before.  (Read more after the jump)

Just to be clear you’re probably not going to finish Freakonomics and walk away with any new skills that you can immediately put to use.  Authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner simply show that existing assumptions can be found to be complete falsehoods upon closer examination of the data.  Through a series of interesting vignettes Levitt and Dubner show how finding creative ways to look at old problems can provide an entirely new outlook on the situation.

Freakonomics is an approachable glance into how the information all around us can reveal the true working nature of the many questions we encounter each day.  Do teachers cheat?  Why don’t more people skimp the IRS? How much money does a crack dealer make?  Instead of relying on parsimonious assessments of the facts that lie before us, Freakonomics reveals that the truth is slightly more obscured.

If you won’t learn fancy new skills then why bother to read Freakonomics?  Freakonomics encourages a creative approach to old problems.  It demonstrates that while conventional knowledge may be the most pervasive form of knowledge, it’s certainly not the most correct.  The authors show that creativity and careful observation can allow new models to be developed and new ways of addressing problems to be introduced.  The book takes the complexities of economics, breaks it down for even the most casual connoisseur of economics, and makes it relevant in a variety of applications.  It’s a bit cliché to refer to a book as a “page turner”, but with such heady subject I think it makes Freakonomics stand out for what it really is.