Freakonomics = Best Book ever written!
 

I started reading Freakonomics on the way back from Florida and I can't put that book down...I'm 2/3 through and I think it may be the best book I've ever read:

http://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-E.../dp/006073132X

I'd just come off another reading bender with "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" - (life and times Warren Zevon):

http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Sleep-When...6549989&sr=1-1

Warren Zevon never got the respect he deserved IMO...he was too smart for most folks...I never knew a lot about him, another great book though.

Did I just come back from a show and write a post about literature and not drugs and strippers?

I'm getting boring in my old age!

Jeeze!

I could have recommended that book to you over a year ago.

Yeah, people have been doing that for quite a while...I just had to go out and start reading it. It always sounded interesting

Too bad you ignored me everytime i said hello in florida. :2 cents::(

whats the jist of it?

Great book...

Here's an interesting and entertaining TED talk by the author, about the freakonomics of the crack business...

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5UGC2nLnaes

Yeah I read it when it first came out. Excellent book. Really puts things into perspective.

Yeah, that is a whole chapter in the book...great stuff.

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was a great book indeed .. surprised u just got around to reading it :)

Isnt that the book where he states drug dealers make like 5 bucks an hour?

yea, that's the one, good book :thumbsup

Gonna check it out, thanks for the heads up

Now we are on the subject, whats some other good reads everyone???

freak!!!

I own it, but havent read it yet, need to find the time... that and the 100 other books i thought were a good idea to buy. But i have heard people say good things about it

I guess we don't have the same drug dealers... :1orglaugh

At least include your Amazon ref in there Jay. You are getting slack dude

Same here (100 books), whos got the time? Bought all these books on real estate investment years ago, never read all of them, now they are all useless as they have out of date stuff in them, oh well, meant well at the time!

Yeah, they had it busted down to where the average street crack dealer makes like $3.30 per hour. I do like that part of the book but it isn't their stongest point.

The stuff about abortion vs. the crime rate and real estate agents is amazing though.

Funny you mention "real estate" - there is an entire chapter dedicated to debunking real estate agents. :winkwink:

GREAT book. I love the whole idea that you can pretty much break down EVERY action by a finite number of motivations. Understand the motivations, you understand people's actions.

Yep...I just finished the whole thing...read it in 2 sittings...fucking amazing....I can't even believe what I've just read...worse yet, now there is a system to that make you think maybe you were right for thinking what you've thought all along OR MAYBE everything you've ever thought all along has been totally wrong!

Either way, it makes you think and doesn't really seem to have any agenda. "If morality is an ideal word, econmics is the real world." - fucking genius, I'm blown away.

I don't think they could have done a better job wrapping the book up with the "2 Paths To Harvard".

He needs to do a book on religion next!

Think I am gonna have to pick this one up.... Either that or steal the copy bossku has..

Here is a good primer:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=5UGC2nLnaes

Dood, that is totally not my style. If you think I "snubbed" you -- maybe I was talking to someone else, distracted, or drunk. If there is anything you would like to discuss icq me 62835707 or email [email protected]

It was pretty good. Very commercial. I have read much better. CHeck out Lucifer Principle.

after i read it i bought it for 3 other people

Ordered. Thanks for your recommendation. :)

I agree I read this book 6 months ago and couldnt put it down. Great ways of seeing things and very interesting facts.

Thats a good clip...I'll definitely check out the book

I actually sat in the bookstore and read half of it one day, then finally got it and finished it. Great book!

That is an awesome book. I can't help but the think the authors may have been acid freaks at one time. Such introspective thought is always suspect. Read it twice I liked it so much.

I think I'll buy a copy too . I want to see if it's as good as you said

I don't think that is a bad thing. "Outside the box" thinking is good more often than bad.

One my all time favorite non-fiction books. Great read and very thought provoking! I even got someone who hates non-fiction to read it and love it :)

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ link to his NY Times blog. I absolutely loved this book...

I heard that book was good, will have to pick it up sometime... ironically, while i'm reading this thread someone mentioned the TED lectures... I've been listening to a Dan Dennett one right now... lol http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/116

and Howard Bloom's The Lucifer Principal is amazing work too

http://www.bookworld.com/lucifer/

I picked that up today at Borders on your reccomendation. Looks kind of long and winded, but interesting.

One thing I really liked about Freakonomics was even though it was full of some mind bending shit...it still was a light read.

Really long books barely hold my interest.

The chapter on drug dealing was quite interesting.

The rest of the book was pretty average, I didn't find the argument on abortion reducing crime particularly convincing (too many unaccounted variables to be convincing), and the chapter on naming kids was really "who the fuck cares"

I read the book, and much of the time I kept saying "it's easy to say that after the fact". I am sort of with sacx on this one. I found too many of the connections to be very, very strained as the author attempted to prove a point.

Some of it is good, but I found too much magician's flash paper and not enough hard reality in there.

I'm kidding. You were busy everytime I was going to say hi.

I thought the abortion chapter was most interesting, where the drug dealing chapter was hit and miss. Both were entertaining though!