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Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (Hardcover)

by Steven D. Levitt (Author), Stephen J. Dubner (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Allen Lane (20 Oct 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 071399990X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0713999907
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 3.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 236 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology
    #5 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Economics

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More About the Authors

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Steven D. Levitt
Steven D. Levitt
Stephen J. Dubner
Stephen J. Dubner

Product Description

Review

Like Freakonomics, but better . . . thrilling . . . you are guaranteed a good time . . . underneath the dazzle, there is substance too (Tim Harford, Financial Times )

Levitt is a master at drawing counter-intuitive conclusions . . . great fun . . . Superfreakonomics travels further than its predecessor (Tom Standage, Sunday Times )

A humdinger of a book: page-turning, politically incorrect and ever-so-slightly intoxicating, like a large swig of tequila (The Times )

One of the most important books you’ll read this autumn (GQ )

Levitt and Dubner’s zeal for statistical anomalies is as undimmed as their eye for a good story . . . lie back and let Levitt and Dubner’s bouncy prose style carry you along from one peculiarity to the next (Sunday Telegraph )

There’s material here not just for one conversation, but for several.The authors mash together interesting academic research, surprising historical comparisons . . . and cute factoids (Daily Mail )

[Freakonomics] was fascinating . . . [SuperFreakonomics] is similarly studded with intriguing examples of economic analysis in action (Daily Telegraph )

Entertaining (BBC Focus )

Product Description

Here at last is the long awaited sequel to the international bestselling phenomenon, Freakonomics. Steven Levitt, the original rogue economist, and Stephen Dubner have been working hard, uncovering the hidden side of even more controversial subjects, from charity to terrorism and prostitution. And with their inimitable style and wit, they will take us on another even more gripping journey of discovery. Superfreakonomics will once again transform the way we look at the world.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

114 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (114 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Light Entertainment. Enjoy the Read!, 21 Oct 2009
By Mr. William Oxley "oxenblocks" (Farnham, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)   
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Read the book before you judge it. You may not agree with all the facts or conclusions, but it will make you think and debate the issues. The book is fascinating and 3 people reading it will give you three different opinions on it and about how good it is.

Should you read it - yes. Will you enjoy it - yes. Will you agree with everything - no.

Prostitution: The price of oral sex has fallen as it has become less taboo socially. Pimps value their prostitutes - which makes sense because I would expect a taxi driver to value his car because it is their means of making a living. And controversially prostitutes are more likely to have sex with a police officer than be arrested by one!

Global Warming: so controversial that people will down rate this book if it disagrees with their own accepted wisdom. The book contains hyperbole and overstatements that generates heated debate - (intended!) economic consequence of this is more press and more sales. But the authors do not deny global warming, rather they want to show how costly and difficult the current answers suggested by the big governments are, and they offer some potentially interesting solutions.

Read it in short bursts - it is not a Dan Brown novel!
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48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars If it ain't broke..., 23 Oct 2009
By Quicksilver (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   
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'Superfreakonomics' is the cumbersomely titled sequel to the bestselling 'Freakonomics' - a book that gave an entertaining overview of microeconomics, and supplied plenty of food for thought. If you enjoyed the first volume, you will undoubtedly enjoy 'SuperFreakonomics'. It is essentially the same book, but with different case studies - if your first book sold over four million copies, why change a winning formula?

Initially I was unimpressed; the first chapter, dealing with prostitution felt like a rehash of the first book, only less interesting. Soon after, things pick up. The sections on emergency medicine and altruism were interesting and ask questions about the way in which we perceive our world. It is these alternate world views that are the 'Freakonomics' books strongest assets. Time and again the authors hold up a hand and say 'but what about...?'

Not everybody will be happy. The authors offer some thoughts on climate change, that go against current thinking, for which they will undoubtedly be pilloried. Of course challenging convention is the point of this book, and I'm sure the authors will welcome the debate. Less happy though, will be road-safety experts. 'Superfreakonomics' reveals that for the drinker, drink-driving is safer than drink-walking. (They do say that a taxi home is much better option still, but considering their findings on altruism, this seems a foolhardy admission.) The section on child safety seats will also cause great consternation, not least amongst child safety seat manufacturers.

Whilst casting doubt on the efficacy of child car seats, the book does ask a singular and important question. Since the primary users of rear seats are children, why aren't they designed with children in mind? Many of the topics covered in 'Superfreakonomics' are distilled down to simple and (with hindsight) obvious questions, and this is part of what makes it a pleasure to read. Another factor, is the lightness of tone, despite being a book about small details, it never becomes bogged down. I would though agree with another reviewer's comments, that the tone used can sometimes grate. It is very chummy and often self-congratulating.

'Superfreakonomics's' strength is also its biggest weakness. To avoid being, dull it only takes a cursory glance at its subject matter. One can't help but wonder what we aren't being told. The authors acknowledge that statistics are easy to fudge, but without doing masses of further reading, it is impossible to judge to what extent the figures have been massaged to back up their suppositions.

That said, the purpose of this book is to provoke debate and stop its readers from accepting everything at face value. I would suggest that this scepticism has to start with 'Superfreakonomics' itself - this is a book that will pose far more questions than it answers, but that is no bad thing. Like its predecessor, 'Superfreakonomics' is an entertaining and thought-provoking book, that deserves to be be read and discussed by as many people as possible.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars From Monkey Prostitution to Raising a Terrorist, 20 Oct 2009
By Boof (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   
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I found this book interesting, frustrating, fascinating and infuriating (mostly at the same time). The duo that brought us Freakonomics with answers to why drug dealers live with their mothers and how the name that your parents gave you can determine which job you end up getting have now brought us Superfreakonomics.

To rogue economists or mad scientists this books meanderings may be make perfect sense, but to the likes of me I had a job trying to fathom how we got from one subject to another and then back to the original one at times. It almost seemed like a couple of kids that get so excited about their school project that they just want to tell you everything all about it all at once. That said, some of the themes and questions posed I found fascinating:

Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance?
Why is May the worst month for a baby in Uganda and Michigan, USA to be born?
How did 9/11 start the trickle down effect of the credit crunch?
Why could eating kangaroo meat help save the planet?
Why did 38 people watch Kitty Genovese be murdered and say nothing?

When I read Freakonomics a few years ago I gave it 2 stars. It attempted to tell us that teachers cheat, estate agents lie and black kids are usually given different names to white kids. You don't say! After having read this second offering I have decided to accept it for what it is - fun and light entertainment. Some of the findings are really fascinating and some are pretty banal and even confusing (the global warming section had my eyes glazing over).

However, to end on a positive note, the epilogue was genius! If you have ever wondered if monkey prostitution exists, wonder no more.....





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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Economics has never been so readable
I studied Economics at university and hated every moment of it. I wonder if things would have been different if the authors were my lecturers. Read more
Published 2 days ago by jakeone

2.0 out of 5 stars Like Freakonomics only even more irritating
This book makes a bold claim to tell `the truth' - all those other experts that tell you how the world works don't really know what they're talking about, or are driven by... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Chuck E

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, trying too hard to be challenging?
Like its predecessor this book is an entertaining and thought provoking read...

What's good about it is how it can make you question received wisdom, how it can... Read more
Published 3 days ago by J. Minogue

5.0 out of 5 stars More of the same - nothing wrong with that
This book is primarily entertainment over information as opposed to the original Freakonomics book. It doesn't add anything more to the concepts that had previously been laid down... Read more
Published 10 days ago by Y. Yearwood

4.0 out of 5 stars An accessible, entertaining and interesting read...
Superfreakonomics is, at its heart, a series of case studies of various economic principles, from scarcity value to supply and demand. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Christopher Meadows

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing

I liked their first book a lot, and this one continues in very much the same vein. Other reviews give you a sense of the topics covered, so I won't repeat. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Don Panik

4.0 out of 5 stars Economics of incentives for non-economists.
All in all, it is one of the non-fiction books on economics that is becoming mainstream phenomenon. The success of Freakonomics, Naked economist, Undercover economists, and the... Read more
Published 24 days ago by verdiinpink

4.0 out of 5 stars Super Superfreakonomics!
Built on a portmanteau of a title, and a pun-too-far, Superfreakonomics is the sequel to the global publishing phenomenon of a year or two ago, based on the concept, familiar, of... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Mr. M. A. Reed

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and diverse set of subjects for discussion...
I'm not going to go into too many details about the specifics as I always feel these spoil the actual book. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Uncle Barbar

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so super as Freakonomics
Basically reading through all of the other reviews will have given you a good idea of the contents of this book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by smitty werbenjaegermanjensen

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