Book Review: SuperFreakonomics

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

This book is a follow-up to the insanely popular Freakonomics that came out six or so years ago.  I read it while in D.C. and thought it was one of the best books I had ever read.  I still do.  I'm pretty sure I saw one of the authors on "The Daily Show" one night and liked what he had to say, so I got the book.  The best part about it was that it was funny.  Laugh out loud, wet yourself funny.  The second best part was that they used original research to make very good points that were not necessarily obvious at first but that made complete logical sense once they broke them down.

To call it "economics" is somewhat of a misnomer in that its mainly statistics.  The authors are economists and they do use economic theory to drive the statistical analysis, but I liken it to being more similar to Damned Lies and Statistics and an economic tome.  I was, and still am, impressed with their ability to find great data sets.  Its essential in statistics that your data set be complete and as large as possible.  I like that they discuss any limitations of their data sets upfront.  They do not try to manipulate the numbers to show something, because ultimately they have no agenda but to entertain.  And these guys could spin any outcome to be hilarious and endlessly entertaining.

SuperFreakonomics draws on some of the topics from the first book and also goes off into completely new terrirory.  I can't say enough good things about these guys, their creativity and their (or their editors') ability to craft a book that has excellent style and is very readable.  Just like with the first book, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down.  I hope these guys keep writing and exploring new issues for a long time, and I sincerely hope they do not wait another six years before coming out with another volume--even though I understand the immense amounts of work that go into creating the product they do, and with such quality.

I would recommend these books to almost anyone because they explain these complex concepts and conclusions in layman's terms.  I was no economic genius in school, and had the most difficult time of my life trying to survive my grad-level econ class, so I don't necessarily have much more background on the subject than any average reader.  They also teach economic concepts in such a practical and plain-English way that its hard not to learn basic economic principals from their work, even if you don't realize you are learning them at the time.  They search for answers to the most basic economic question, upon which all other economic questions rest: what motivates people?  They also do so without an agenda, as previously mentioned.  They are not trying to get the reader to believe one theory of this or that, or convince the reader on policies or economic issues.  They present their data, their conclusions, and let the reader decide what makes sense.  All they do is explain how we *should* think about those things.

I highly recommend both books, and they don't even need to be read in order.  Just grab one and start reading, and I promise you you will enjoy it.