Think Like a Freak

The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain

By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Narrated by: Stephen J. Dubner

The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.

Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally—to think, that is, like a Freak.

Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms. As always, no topic is off-limits. They range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, you’ll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they’re from Nigeria.

Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:

• First, put away your moral compass—because it’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.
• Learn to say “I don’t know”—for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
• Think like a child—because you’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
• Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.
• Learn to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
• Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.

Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing—and so much fun to read.

Freakonomics Part III - new, but not different

If you enjoyed Freakonomics/SuperFreakonmics, definitely get Think Like a Freak - it is an update with exciting new stories. I wouldn't call it a guide to a different type of thinking any more than those first two books, but they did a pretty good job getting us all out of the box already. An exciting, interesting new listen.

If you are a listener of the Freaknomics podcasts, this will feel less like an audiobook and more like a long podcast because it is read by Stephen Dubner (which is in no way a negative!). Some of the facts and figures also won't be new to you. The length of the audiobook also includes three podcast episodes at the end which you may well be familiar with.

(Given that subscribing to the podcast is free though, I nevertheless feel good about the price of the audiobook.)

Don't Bother

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I wouldn't recommend listening to this, as the entire book is just a rehashed version of the podcast, which is put out for free. They also (somewhat insultingly) pad the hour count by putting several of their podcasts at the end. I was very disappointed at the lack of original material contained in the book.

Would you ever listen to anything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner again?

Yes, it would inspire me to continue listening to the podcast.

Did Think Like a Freak inspire you to do anything?

Nothing the podcast didn't already inspire.

Any additional comments?

Check out their free podcasts for a higher quality version of the whole book.

Very cool and informative

I have recommended this great book to friends and now am a freakanomics radio Listener.

Too short and redundant to the podcast.

Overall the book delivers on what you expect from freakanomics but it's short and redundant to a lot of their other work. In fact quite a bit of the overall length of this piece is the inclusion of a couple podcasts at the end. If you e never listened to a podcast you will likely find it much more interesting than I did.

Interesting perspectives

I really liked this book. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the teaching perspective. Now that I'm done, I really hope that there will be a more intensive follow-up book.

the things they make you think!

great subjects to ponder. they make you think outside the box. amazing how it keeps you so interested.

new thinking Bible

I'm a 19 year old serial entrepreneur. working on my third startup. I can honestly say what these guys are talking about, thinking different, quitting, going of the beaten path is a recipe for entrepreneurial success and personal reincarnation of sorts. Thanks again, looking forward to another.

Think outside the box!

this is right online with the original Freakonomics. give it a good read over, and you will learn a lot.

It is a good book

Excellent book..I enjoyed listing it. It's also educational. I encourage everyone to listen it. Enjoy.

Expected more

I was expecting a book that challenges the way that I think, but NOT. What I got was a few stories of people wherein I had to search for the "very" hidden wisdom! And SPOILER ALERT: The last hour and thirty minutes in the book was podcasts and not a conclusion, which the book desperately needs! So in reality there was 5 hours of book. Expected more! Much more!