Review by Choice Review
Levitt (economics, Univ. of Chicago) and Dubner (former writer and editor, New York Times Magazine) present in this work a completely new extension of their best-selling book Freakonomics (CH, Nov'05, 43-1689). They assert that the unifying principle in the various topics they address is people responding to incentives in ways that are not necessarily predictable or manifest. Major themes are explored using a wide range of examples, e.g., life and death issues, terrorism, altruism, medical care, crime, and the environment. Chapter titles are entertaining and provocative: "How Is a Street Prostitute like a Department-Store Santa?" "Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance?" "What Do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo Have in Common?" Environmentalists will find this book troubling; the authors describe methane as a wicked polluter resulting from exhalation and flatulence by animals (called ruminants) that emit it at about 25 times more potency as a greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide released by cars. In this sequel, Levitt and Dubner succeed in applying economic analysis to timely topics with stimulation, wit, and humor. Best of all, their book will appeal to a broad segment of the population. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels and collections. H. I. Liebling emeritus, Lafayette College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Economist Levitt and journalist Dubner capitalize on their megaselling Freakonomics with another effort to make the dismal science go gonzo. Freaky topics include the oldest profession (hookers charge less nowadays because the sexual revolution has produced so much free competition), money-hungry monkeys (yep, that involves prostitution, too) and the dunderheadedness of Al Gore. There's not much substance to the authors' project of applying economics to all of life. Their method is to notice some contrarian statistic (adult seat belts are as effective as child-safety seats in preventing car-crash fatalities in children older than two), turn it into "economics" by tacking on a perfunctory cost-benefit analysis (seat belts are cheaper and more convenient) and append a libertarian sermonette (governments "tend to prefer the costly-and-cumbersome route"). The point of these lessons is to bolster the economist's view of people as rational actors, altruism as an illusion and government regulation as a folly of unintended consequences. The intellectual content is pretty thin, but it's spiked with the crowd-pleasing provocations-"`A pimp's services are considerably more valuable than a realtor's'" -that spell bestseller. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Levitt (economics, Univ. of Chicago) and Dubner (Turbulent Souls) provide more of their inimitable insights and observations in this follow-up to their critically lauded mega-best seller, Freakonomics (2005), also available from Books on Tape and HarperAudio. Drawing on new research and original studies conducted by Levitt, they here explain, e.g., how eating kangaroo can help to save the planet and the surprising commonality among hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths. Listeners will be entertained by this mix of clever thinking and good storytelling, and Dubner's solid, lively reading will sustain their interest throughout. While the material is indeed easy to digest and dynamically presented, professionals might instead prefer economics research of the type found in peer-reviewed journals and including citations for the statistics. Recommended for public libraries. [The New York Times best-selling Morrow hc was described as "readable, irreverent, insightful, and an exemplary representation of analytical thinking," LJ Xpress Reviews, 10/30/09.-Ed.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A sequel to the megaselling Freakonomics (2005). It's not exactly economics for dummiesor, as Levitt (Economics/Univ. of Chicago) and business journalist Dubner (Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, 2003, etc.) write, "Chicken Soup for the Freakonomics Soul"but this follow-up is certainly more of the same, a relentlessly enthusiastic cheer for the application of the dismal science to everyday life. That is, everyday life as the world knows it, as when Levitt and Dubner explore some of the curious economic questions on the underside of terror bombings. Econometrics can be a soulless and sometimes divisive business, so the authors may incite some controversy with their report that in the UK, "a person with neither a first nor last Muslim name stood only a 1 in 500,000 chance of being a terrorist," whereas for a person with both first and last Muslim names the odds went to 1:2,000. (They add, however, that the odds scale way back if the person has a savings account and a life-insurance policy.) Less controversial, perhaps, is their look at the economics of prostitution, with some surprising findingsnot least that the average street hooker in Chicago earns only $27 an hour and works only 13 hours a week, drawing about $350 a week. They're priced out of the market, the ever-provocative authors assert, by women willing to have sex for free. The authors also write that it's safer to travel by car than by most other means of transport, thanks in part to no less a personage than Robert S. McNamara, and by far less safe to walk drunk than to drive drunk. The authors' view of the climate crisis through an economic lens is similarly spirited, but certainly worth adding to the debate. Jaunty, entertaining and smart. Levitt and Dubner do a good service by making economics accessible, even compelling. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
