SuperFreakonomics

Written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Narrated by Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics lived on the New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing two years. Now authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with more iconoclastic insights and observations in SuperFreakonomics—the long awaited follow-up to their New York Times Notable blockbuster. Based on revolutionary research and original studies SuperFreakonomics promises to once again challenge our view of the way the world really works.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 20, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061967290

Steven D. Levitt

Steven D. Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given to the most influential American economist under forty. He is also a founder of The Greatest Good, which applies Freakonomics-style thinking to business and philanthropy. Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning journalist and radio and TV personality, has worked for the New York Times and published three non-Freakonomics books. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio and Tell Me Something I Don't Know.

Reviews for SuperFreakonomics

[eowyna_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Subtitled "Global Cooling, patriotic prostitutes, and why suicide bombers should buy life insurance." Like Freakonomics before it, this book is a fascinating look at the world around us through a lens of economics. The global warming chapter does have sensible things to say (there is more to global warming than just the carbon dioxide cycle), an analysis of how to ameliorate the hurricane effects, what capuchin monkeys buy when given a money economy (yes, the oldest profession does figure into it), the economics of prostitution over the last century, as well as through several neighborhoods in one modern town, how one might use various indicators to help locate terrorists on home soil, and so on. Fascinating analyses.

[atiara_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun, interesting light reading.

[yougotamber · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This second installment in the "Freakonomics" series was an interesting listen but fell short (same with the first book). I really enjoy the Freakonomics bit on NPR and think it would be easy to translate this into a book format but for some reason the books aren't as interesting or compelling. I can't say it wasn't an entertaining read because it did keep my attention the whole time. Some topics I enjoyed more than others and if Levitt wrote another book like this, I would audiobook it in a heartbeat since it makes for a great "listen".

[icedream_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting information, a little drier reading than the first book but very similar. It's just one of those "interesting facts to know" books. It's a quick read, the first book was not my normal type of book to read so it was original and fun to read. This book lost it's originality factor so it had a lot to make up for in its content. It almost succeeded.

[vonze-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting tidbits of useless information for the average person. Probably would be more interesting for students studying economics and psychology. I learned more about prostitution than I ever actually wanted to know.

[piersanti-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as I remember the first one being, but still an interesting read.

[bravenewbks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was good but not that good (and not nearly as good as the original). I felt like this lacked focus on actual research and had more rank speculation about things that someone might maybe do in the future and how the world might maybe respond to those things.

Non-serious spoiler alert: the answer to the teaser on the front cover is super lame. Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance? The answer is not, as I expected, some interesting and surprising bit of trivia borne out by research that shows that intended suicide bombers die more frequently by other means. Nope, suicide bombers should buy life insurance because then data profilers will be less likely to identify them as potential suicide bombers.

In other news, if you want to get away from somewhere without being noticed, you probably should try walking calmly and blending into a crowd, instead of running for your life. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or an economist) to tell you that if you don't want to be identified as different from everybody else, try doing the things that everybody else does.

[scarchin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good! The main reason I gave it three stars is that it basically just more of Freakonomics - a book I loved. It's also short and feels like a few good magazine articles put into a hardcover binding.

[jerry.yoakum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Second time reading and still worth the read. It can be a little disheartening to know that some (many / maybe most) of the things discussed didn't make it into mainstream in the past 10 years. That is a lesson in itself and the concept is supported by a few of the stories in SuperFreakonomics.

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Just didn't dig this one like I did the first.

[andjhostet-527429 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting, but not nearly as good as their first book. Where the first book was mindblowing and made me look at the world a bit differently, this book was just kind filled with interesting facts or conclusions, but it felt like a bunch of B-sides of ideas that didn't really get fully realized. Not to mention the end just kind of rambled about global warming for a bit, and it didn't really have anything to do with behavioral economics.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

adult nonfiction (on audio): more interesting revelations from the team that produced Freakonomics. Not all of the logic is entirely clear (I don't really buy the argument about planting trees making the earth hotter because darker leaves=more heat absorption; if the plants are converting sunlight to food energy, how exactly is that worse than bouncing the heat around?) but still really interesting.

[jose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

More of the same, still interesting, my fascination with the first book lead to love this book as well

[Craig Sakowitz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Global warming chapter is basically wrong calling whole book into question

[satansparakeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This follow up to Freakonomics brings up some more of the interesting statistical and economic questions that we often don't consider in everyday life. I was a huge fan of the first book and I only find this one slightly less informative and entertaining. The main difference between this and the first book is one that many other reviewers have noted. It looks more to the solutions to problems that are suggested by economic theories rather than simply illuminating the way the world works. Still, it's definitely a good pick if you enjoyed Freakonomics.

[bensdad00 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Picks up right where the first left off - documenting real-world instances of unintended consequences.

[enewt823 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This followup to Levitt's Freakonomics is just as interesting, funny and insightful as the first installment. Recommended!

[nicoally · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Freakonomics, I felt that SuperFreakonomics lacked some of the spark the first book had. The book still applied humor and economics in laymen terms, but maybe the topics weren't as interesting. While I still recommend this book, I suggest if you had to pick between this book and the first one, you pick the first one.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The reconciliation of ideas that Levitt and Dubner have become famous for is definitely original and makes for great reading. Their approach also shows that it doesn't take much to reshape concepts nor to interpret data creatively. Still, despite the preface, it is difficult to link all their ideas to a common thread and I sometimes had the impression of reading a mix of fun ideas with no real point at the end. Their arguments are tenuous at best and "incentive" as a theme just doesn't cut it. I think this book could be much more powerful with a clear argument.

[ekchang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephen is a great narrator and even greater author and economist.

[sacrain · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love love loved Freakonomics -- it was the first time I ever thought economics could be interesting...sexy even.This book, while in the same vein, lacked the sizzle that the first one did. There were still interesting stats and comparisons, but I honestly couldn't remember if they were stories from the first book, a Malcolm Gladwell book, or really new. And I guess that was my biggest beef - this book didn't seem as "new" as the first one. Or maybe I'm just becoming a jaded, bitter middle-aged woman. Maybe Levitt & Dubner can use me as an example in their next book, SuperDuperFreakonomics.

[forsanolim · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok. This book is by no means perfect. More so than in the original Freakonomics, the arguments Levitt and Dubner make do have some clear holes in them, and this book doesn't really seem very well-organized--Levitt and Dubner go on some SERIOUS tangents on multiple occasions. That being said, though, Super Freakonomics was still VERY enjoyable: its subject matter was more fascinating than Freakonomics' was (who doesn't want to read about capuchin monkeys who use money or sulfur-belching garden hoses that could prevent global warming?), and the very way that Levitt and Dubner write is still so engrossing. All in all, I guess, this book does in some ways feel like the "Freakonomics for Dummies" book that Levitt and Dubner so didn't want to write (as per their introduction to this one) in that it feels really, really contrived at points, but it is worth reading just because it's so satisfying.

[jocraddock_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The sequel to Freakonomics, an intriguing look at the economic reality around us, this, too, is a lively, fascinating book. Are all the suppositions made in the book true? The detail of study doesn't allow indepth examination (the TV market growth in the 50s related to increasing crime rates of the 70s doesn't seem to include any other demographics of those children other than television viewing, for instance).The good, the bad, the intended and unintended . . . and the cheap and easy we seem to avoid.

[dorritt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Whether you agree or disagree with the authors' conclusions, this book and the prequel, Freakonomics, encourage the reader to challenge "conventional wisdom" and to apply scientific analysis and data-driven critical thinking to real world issues. As an educator (and as someone with degrees in both science and the humanities), this is a cause I have devoted huge chunks of my life to championing. The book sheds light on just how easily and often we humans allow ourselves to be manipulated by ignorance, complacency, innate behaviour/psychology or deliberate malfeasance into making decisions that harm our self-interest, our communities, our environment, and our world. On the other hand, the book spends approximately the same amount of time/space exploring how, with the application of scientific method and critical thinking, ignorance can be surmounted and solutions - sometimes shockingly simple and obvious solutions - to problems both inconsequential (walking while drunk) and profound (global warming) can be identified.All this, and a completely entertaining read to boot! The authors eschew convoluted language and make extensive use of humor to hammer their points home. Highly, highly recommended ... in fact, if I ruled the world, this would be a required reading in every U.S. high school!

[ariahfine-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in about two days. Personally, I love books from this genre, a collection of fascinating anecdotal stories coupled with brilliant experiments and research about all sorts of topics.

The Freakonomics books lack a coherent theme, which is part of what makes it so interesting. The chapter headings, like the subtitle of the book, are extremely enticing. And while the chapter opens and closes with a particular subject matter, they jump all over the map with the stories and research within the chapter to prove the original point.

It's well written, easy to read, and full of fascinating studies that will leave you dumbfounded. I'd highly recommend it.

[starla_aurora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing! I definately want to purchase for my special "owned" home books. This is definately a keeper.

[jeremypreacher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like that this shows up in the search list above "The Use and Abuse of Logic," because, yeah. Like its predecessor, this is a lovely popcorn read but not very convincing. Lots of broad sweeping conclusions, not-very-detailed discussions of data, and an increasingly disturbing pattern of racist and classist assumptions. I'm not unhappy to have read it, but I can't bring myself to defend it.

[kblinn_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book to listen to while driving in ones car. I did that with Freakonomics and enjoyed this book in the same manner. The sequel probably isn't quite as fascinating as the original, but it's pretty darned close. These two guys have a really unique way of looking at why things work as they do in the world. They also have their fingers on the pulse of some fascinating solutions being considered for global warming. If you have an interest in why the world works as it does, I'd highly recommend this book.

[khiemstra631 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book to listen to while driving in ones car. I did that with Freakonomics and enjoyed this book in the same manner. The sequel probably isn't quite as fascinating as the original, but it's pretty darned close. These two guys have a really unique way of looking at why things work as they do in the world. They also have their fingers on the pulse of some fascinating solutions being considered for global warming. If you have an interest in why the world works as it does, I'd highly recommend this book.

[nocto_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think I'm probably pretty much satiated with the application of (sciencey thing) to (everyday thing) book genre. At least in regard to (sciencey thing)=(economics). Which, I suspect, is unlikely to stop me picking up other books in the genre in the future. I did feel like I'd read a whole heap of this before in one form or another though.