Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Read This Freakin' Book

A book I now re-read twice and holds a prominent place on my shelf, is Freakonomics, a book that has turned into a runaway phenomenon.

It all started with economist Steven Levitt being bored at looking at graphs and statistics all day long. He decided to turn his knowledge and economic analysis tools on real world problems: Do realtors get you the best price on your house? If drug dealers are so successful, how come most of them still leave with their mom? Why is the crime rate really dropping? What do teachers and Sumo wrestlers have in common? What makes a perfect parent?

All this, and more are covered in this fascinating book, co-authored with reporter Stephen Dubner. The book was so successful, that it now turned into a blog, where more and more issues are discussed and uncovered.

What I like the most about this book, is its authors "audacity" in turning the tools from one practice onto another (in this case, using economics to look at sociology). I hope my computer-related skills would one day be useful in other fields.

Get the book here (this link will take you to the new, expanded version).

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