See more information on Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything at Amazon UK


Rating: - Buy the expanded edition
This book first arrived in a blizzard of publicity back in 2005. Now 4 years on, it has been re-released in a revised and expanded edition with an extra 90 pages of bonus material (be sure to order the 336-page edition) consisting of newspaper columns and blog entries, along with a few corrections and an overall restructuring (the previous introductory magazine excerpts to each chapter have now been consolidated into a single article and moved to the back of the book).

I found Freakonomics ... Read More

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Rating: - A Quick, Clean Read
You'll fly through this book. They give economics a sharp taste, but it's not drivell that they're talking. Indeed much of what they write is witty and convincing at the same time which I'd say is something difficult to achieve with such a subject.

It's not got 5 stars because despite the title 'Rogue Economist' the fellow is a little too PC. You'll see what I mean if you read the book. Even if you don't agree with everything in the book you'll fly through it so quickly that at least you can't ... Read More

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Rating: - A look at things through the eyes of an economist.
This book is a general interest book- and it certainly is interesting. The book, for anyone looking for an entertaining read, will like it. In a nutshell, the book takes a look at all sorts of things in society, from crack gangs to parenting, and then attempts to make sense of them by applying econonmic principles. According to the book, economics is really the study of incentives, and so using this kind of angle, the book comes up with answers to why things work the way they do.

A book that's ... Read More

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Rating: - Ho hum not very interesting application of numerical data to sociology
I really can't see why this book attracted much interest. It's a collection of not very interesting observations, some obvious (children of rich parents do better than children of poor parents, estate agents are more interested in their commissions than in getting you the best price for your house), others tendentious (the crime statistics prove that more adding police reduces crime, IQ is hereditary). By and large the authors' opinions and observations are middle-of-road conservative, with some liberalism on ... Read More

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Rating: - Fun & interesting
This is a really interesting romp through some fairly random questions like "How is the KKK like a group of estate agents". The answers to the questions that drive this book are well discussed and backed up with research. Logical thought processes which bring to light some interesting answers. I particularly liked the discussion about reduction in crime rates being related to abortion policy (rather than policing or improved government crime prevention policies).

I'd agree with other reviewers in ... Read More

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