Superfreakonomics

Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner is the follow-up to their first book Freakonomics, which I read several years back. When not fighting over who has the correct spelling of their common name, they are writing books attempting to make economics interesting. In Superfreakonomics the two Steve’s explore a whole bunch of topics ranging from global warming to the world’s oldest profession. If you liked Freakonomics you’ll probably enjoy the follow up. I found it interesting and particularly liked the last chapter that dealt with the global warming issue (even if the authors diss our favorite almost president Al Gore). Now, I take everything written here with a grain of salt. The authors clearly have an agenda and like most arguments, I’m sure there are others out there writing books with the complete opposite opinions and evidence to back them up (the aforementioned Al Gore for example). But that doesn’t mean the authors' conclusions aren’t compelling. My only other negative comment for the book is that doesn’t really have a unifying theme, which made it seem more like of a collection of articles. Contrast that with Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (which Superfreakonomics actually references), which had an obvious theme that was carried throughout and made for a more complete book. Overall Superfreakonomics was a good and relatively quick vacation read, but I would put it a notch below Outliers.

Next up: Anne Rice’s The Tale of The Body Thief, the 4th book in her Vampire Chronicles.