Book review

I haven't been reading a lot lately. In fact, I've always suspected I like books much more than I like reading, and think my recent dry patch has been evidence of this. Back living at home though means I'm back taking the bus to work every day, and so I feel like I should read something during my daily commute.

A few weeks ago I picked up a book called "Freakonomics" by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. You could tell immediately that it was going to be semi-intellectual, given that both authors used their middle inititials, as smart people often do. Flipping through it though it looked really interesting and accessible, so I committed to reading it.

The main guy behind the book - or the ideas contained in it at least - is Levitt, described as a kind of "rogue economist". Which means that most of the writing doesn't apply to what most people would describe as economics. It's kind of more social science really. He uses data to answer a range of questions, which range from "Why do most drug dealers still live with their Mum?" to "What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?"

It's interesting stuff, and makes you think about the world in a new way. Some of their claims can be a little disturbing - like the chapter in which they argue that more than any other factor, the Roe vs Wade decision which legalised abortion in the US was responsible for the drop in the American crime rate in the 90s - but you can't fault their logic.

If you're interested in this stuff the authors keep a blog on the New York Times website here http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ which is worth a look.

I read it over a few weeks, but it only took me a few sessions - it's really easy to read, funny, and you feel approximately 20% smarter after finishing it. So, yeah, I recommend it.