UsefulConcept

My Freakonomics Review:

On a trip to NYC for a conference I picked up a potentially interesting book called Freakonomics.  It is subtitled "A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything".  How can you go wrong with that?

The good points:

• It was  quick read.  Perfect for a short trip.
• It has some interesting things to say.
• It has a fun name

Bad points:

• Authored by two people, and it reads like it
• EVERY chapter has a page dedicated to telling us about how popular and smart the authors are.  Name dropping, school dropping, interviews, etc.  It was as if they needed to convince me they were smart and worthy.  It was distasteful and I just ignored it about 1/3 of the way through.
• There are many assumptions made, which detracts from any kind of point they were making.
• they never made any kind of point beyond some fun stories.
• The stories were repeated.
• The book is really a couple essays.  They then added lots of filler to make it a short book.
• The entire last chapter had been put in for no reason that I can disern.  What the hell does a persons name have to do with anything?  There was nothing to be gained from any of that chapter at all.  Except that the obvious isn't realy always obviously obvious, but ultimatly still obvious.  Sigh.

The bottom line... it is worth borrowing from a friend for an hour while traveling, and skipping the repeated parts just for some parts that are in fact thought provoking or entertaining.  Don't take it seriously.  And don't pay $25 for it.  Don't even pay $10.

This book isn't quite as bad as other so called best sellers such as Who Moved my Cheese.  I can't tell you how angry and used I felt after reading that book in under an hour and feeling like I had read a book to a 3 year old on a basic basic principle.  Summary: adapt your way of thinking when you need to.

Update:  Who the hell buys these books?  How can they be best sellers?  I want to shake my fist at someone but am at a loss as to who.  I for one will not buy another book like this without reading the first, middle and last chapter.  If they are exactly the same, then move on.  If i cna read all three faster than I wrote this blog entry, move along.

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