Stack of Spines

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner are at it again.  This time they’ve increased the stakes and discuss a few more wild topics than the first book Freakonomics.

This follow-up had much more overt political undertones and I think the original delight of the hidden side of everything faded slightly.  I enjoyed this book but not as much as I thought I would.

If Freakonomics is economics on speed, SuperFreakonomics is economics on speed and crack with a touch of ADD.  The topics were linked together in a winding river kind of roundabout way, in other words – eventually, which was more than a bit frustrating at times.  Instead of the linear nature of the first book – what does x and y have in common, this book meanders among a few topics before drawing a conclusion of sorts.  I would argue this is a more interesting approach when structured well but I was left feeling lost as Levitt and Dubner jumped around.

And yet, true to form, SuperFreakonomics poses more questions than it answers.  That is what it does well.  However engaging and thought provoking the discussion, it involves many politically charged elements such as suicide bombers, prostitutes, healthcare costs, and global warming.  I wholeheartedly support questioning and drawing your own conclusions, and for that this book is wonderful.  As Freakonomics looks into the past and explores hidden connections, SuperFreakonomics predicts and posits regarding our future.  I’m terribly curious to see if any of the newfangled keep-it-simple-stupid (KISS) solutions outlined to improve our world ever come to fruition.