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  • Freakonomics Discussion

    Has anybody read Freakonomics or Superfreakonomics?

    I'm highly interested in purchasing them - was wondering if there were any members that could their own person review and recommendation.

    Amazon.com: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) (9780060731335): Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner: Books
    Amazon.com: SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (9780060889579): Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner: Books
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    I've read them both, they were both awesome reads, though from some things I've read online afterward it seems some of their data might be skewed and their conclusions false. Regarding the data, I couldn't tell you, but regarding the conclusions being false, in the end conclusion are how you interpret the data, there could be more than one conclusion to the same data set, especially in something that is not an exact science.

    Overall, I highly recommend, but take everything in them with a grain of salt
    Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

    Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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    • #3
      I've only read the first one. Of course I'm biased since I taught econ, but I liked it because it shows how economic decision making can be applied to just about anything.
      "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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      • #4
        Freakonomics is one of the things that convinced me to study economics. Unfortunately, when I actually got to Uni I realized that while I like the theories behind it and reading about how economics is used to make decisions, I really did not enjoy doing economics themselves.
        Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

        Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
          Freakonomics is one of the things that convinced me to study economics. Unfortunately, when I actually got to Uni I realized that while I like the theories behind it and reading about how economics is used to make decisions, I really did not enjoy doing economics themselves.
          You've got to crawl-walk-run. I'm sure that you loved putting rounds down range from your Merkava, but you had to go through some not so fun training before you could get to the sexy stuff.
          "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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          • #6
            Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
            Freakonomics is one of the things that convinced me to study economics. Unfortunately, when I actually got to Uni I realized that while I like the theories behind it and reading about how economics is used to make decisions, I really did not enjoy doing economics themselves.
            I didn't like lower division econ courses, actually I didn't like the upper division stuff much either. It was not until much later, after I started to work and pay attention to the world, then I realized how much those courses meant.
            "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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            • #7
              While I appreciate what you guys are saying, I decided that it just wasn't my cup of meat, and I've transferred over next semester from Economics to American Studies
              Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

              Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by bigross86 View Post
                While I appreciate what you guys are saying, I decided that it just wasn't my cup of meat, and I've transferred over next semester from Economics to American Studies
                Come to America, we will teach you everything, and you can take economics here. 2 birds = one stone. ;)

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                • #9
                  I've only read SuperFreakonomics, though the other is on my want to read list. It was decently interesting. The uproar over the global warming section seemed almost entirely unjustified to me, they clearly take the possibility very seriously, and their proposals were intriguing. Unfortunately I seem to have largely forgotten what the rest of the book contained, but it was interesting. Not incredible, but I'd say 3 or 3.5 out of 5.
                  I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

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                  • #10
                    I haven't read either, but I've read Shek.
                    To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by JAD_333 View Post
                      I haven't read either, but I've read Shek.
                      You should be well rested, then!
                      "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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                      • #12
                        Did you mean arrested?
                        To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by JAD_333 View Post
                          Did you mean arrested?
                          No, that was me. Surprisingly enough, also having to do with economics and budgets and all that...
                          Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

                          Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Being an economist is kind of like being a science fiction writer.

                            It's okay to do, but it should only be done late at nite, behind locked doors.
                            "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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                            • #15
                              I was very interested in the open minded approach to geo-engineering they take in debates, there really is this strange opinion in the environmental sector that Humanity must suffer for its crimes against mother earth(a holy goddess), without realising that to solve a problem one must keep their minds open and look at solutions, to say that anytime in the future the large masses coming out of poverty will care more about the larger environment problems which have the scale of 100s of years instead of their daily lives is very dangerous.
                              Originally posted by highsea View Post
                              Being an economist is kind of like being a science fiction writer.

                              It's okay to do, but it should only be done late at nite, behind locked doors.
                              I think that was the advice they had in terms of macro-economics and predictions of the market, companies, and nations.

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