Freakonomics | Teen Ink

Freakonomics

February 9, 2009
By Carolina Mendoza BRONZE, Plano, Texas
Carolina Mendoza BRONZE, Plano, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Written by Steven D. Levitt, winner of the John Bates Clark Medal, and Stephen J. Dubner, author of Turbulent Souls and Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, Freakonomics focus is on the different dynamics that two unrelated subjects share. From drug dealers living with their moms, to the Ku Klux Klan as real estate agent, all the way to how a name can affect a child's success in life. Freakonomics dives into subjects that people have probably never thought about. In addition Levitt and Dubner support many of their theories with real life examples that will make your mind spin.

Levitt and Dubner illustrate the hard to relate topics and simplify them so that anybody, even those who don't understand economics, can divulge into the different topics. While the book does not have a specific plot and the chapters do not relate at all, it does deal with people's responses to certain situations they are involved in as well as how society perceives certain myths; it also raises certain questions that the reader has probably never thought about, and it will raise questions that might lead the reader to do an investigation of how people behave.

At the beginning of each chapter, Freakonomics raises a rare question that when it is first read one might think that only crazy people would ask these types of questions, but as the reader reads on, the answer begins to emerge. Levitt and Dubner explain situations with real life examples like how teachers cheat with real data to support it. In addition, one might think that one knows the answer to a question posed in the book like what affects a child success, yet the book will prove one wrong. It keeps the reader's mind engaged and interested in topics and what is hidden within them.
Furthermore, Levitt and Dubner take the reader on a journey to discover the hidden side of things that probably never crossed the readers' mind. Freakonomics itself is engaging, allowing the reader to view how teachers and sumo wrestler cheat, how drug dealers are not what we thought they were, and how in the road of becoming the best parents, everything they do will not always affect the success of their children. In the end after reading the book, readers will be intrigued with all the questions that could be posed about how the world really works and how things aren't always as they seem.


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