Book Review: Freakonomics

Freakonomics was freaking awesome! Numbers don’t lie. The people who use numbers lie.

I can’t say enough about how awesome this book was for me. I love when conventional wisdom is shown to be false by using data. Picking apart other peoples arguments (while they struggle to hold onto their opinion) is a good time to be had by all. I’m going to list the chapter names because they are fun in and of themselves.

1. What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
2. How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of Real-Estate agents?
3. Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?
4. Where have all the criminals gone?
5. What makes a perfect parent?
6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?

(And now the quick answers)
1. They both cheat.
2. They both use fear as a motivator instead of action
3. Most drug dealers like most athletes will NOT make it to the upper ranks to make ‘lots’ of money. (100K/yr?) So, they get paid $3.30/hour. By the way the education/economics barrier between blacks and whites was almost gone. But then came crack cocaine.
4. Roe v. Wade increased the number of abortions of children that were most likely to become criminals.
5. Nothing. A child has an almost predetermined future before they are even conceived based on the family.
6. Names are not important. Like the last answer, a child’s future is almost predetermined before they are conceived. If you are born into a poor uneducated family you are more likely to end up with a name like Roshanda, Brittany, or Billy Bob. But your name does not determine your future.

Seriously… this book was cool.