"Knowing what to measure, and how to measure is the key to understanding modern life…"
Levitt and Dubner in Freakonomics
Freakonomics was the first economics-related book I have read as I begin to find interest in the subject. A great first read which I highly recommend. I found I didn't need to have prior knowledge of economics to fully comprehend the concepts being presented.
For example, it explored "the hidden side of everything" with a funny economics twist.
Read to find out about ..
1. Online daters and what they lie about
2. Cheating Teachers
3. Bizzare baby names
and more!
This book boosted my interest in the topic and hunger to learn more.
Levitt and Dubner helped me to start seeing the world from an economics perspective which is great for us students.
Top 5 Reasons To Read Freakonomics…
- It's the perfect introduction to boost your awareness of Economics to help explain society. "Conventional wisdom is so often wrong"! For example, it explains why incentives matter in Sumo-wrestling and why nurseries that charge parents for arriving late, end up with more kids to take care of after school.
- It questions what we take for granted, so when you finish reading, you view these things in a completely different manner. It triggers your own questions and urges to know more!
- The chapter titles really grab your attention and a fun way to introduce obscure new topics.
- It's backed by evidence from experiments by Levitt and Dubner themselves, so you feel like a real Economist reading the book, and you can apply them to future essays.
- Above all, Freakonomics is written engagingly. You might find yourself smiling in entertainment and surprised at the compelling answers and ideas. It broke up the book and made it easy to go through. You don't even need to read in order!
I found Steven Levitt has a TED ex clip that you can use an introduction
There are many topics explored, some more appealing to you than others.
I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter 3, 'Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?'. I found the way the authors came to their answer smart. So much that I went on to further research the American sociologist, Sudhir Venkatesh, who became a gang leader for a day. Sudhir even wrote a book about that.