SuperFreakonomics

By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Narrated by: Stephen J. Dubner

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in 35 languages and changing the way we look at the world. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with Superfreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.

SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Can eating kangaroo save the planet?

Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is: good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky.

Freakonomics has been imitated many times over - but only now, with SuperFreakonomics, has it met its match.

©2009 Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Think Like a Freak?

What an amazing compilation of fun things, really gets you thinking. I'm grateful to the authors for putting it together, their stories will positively effect me in a few different aspects of my life.

thanks!

I loved this!

Where does SuperFreakonomics rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is at the top of my listening experiences. I listened to the last one and this one was as good. I wish everyone would listen to this.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Comments about global warming were important.

couldn't stop listening

even the epilogue was gripping! great range of stories, and central theme around the hidden drivers to a variety of decisions and behaviors, great follow up to the first book.

Valuable

It’s even better than the first one. a lot of comic relief too to keep it interesting.

If You Liked the First One......

No points for originality, but reliably smart and entertaining. I'm a sucker for academic theory and academic research packaged into narratives for the non-specialilst. Economists and evolutionary psychologists seem to take up the most room on the bookshelf (and have sort of merged with behavioral economists), although primatologists and sociologists may be poised to make a run. Does Levitt have any book length ideas inside of his head? Dubner is a good writer and journalist, I wonder if their partnership has run its course. Don't get me wrong. I super-recommend SuperFreakonomics. Read, enjoy, and bow down to the wisdom of incentives, the wisdom of the economist.

An unusual take on economics

With over 400 audio books I have listened to, many more than once, but have never reviewed in my Audible,I am looking through some of the best and worst and reviewing some of them. SuperFreakonomics by Levitt and Dubner qualifies as one of the more interesting books on economics I have read or listened to. It deals not with basic economic theory, but with economic situations and comparisons that are freaky when one examines them. The scope of this non-fiction book is impressive. Stephen Dubner does a nice job of narrating this book that he co-wrote.

Not as good as the original.

Wasn't impressed with this content. Not much compelling material. The topics also lack meaningful connections. Global warming and doctors not washing hands probably the biggest focus.

Second Trumps the First!

This second volume is far more engaging than the first. Not to say that the first was lame, far from it, but there's nothing like a little micro-eco perspective to debunk so much of the media's hype on various issues.

good overall.

not a huge fan of the performance, and the periodic music is kind of bizarre, but like the first one it's good overall and stop provoking.

Very Much Like Freakonomics

I enjoy the spin that these two put on economics. This book, like Freakonomics and the podcast of the same name, is a compilation of interesting examples used to illustrate a point about some aspect of economics. Think of it as a bunch of podcasts or short stories. There is a heavy focus on social economics, or why/how people make the decisions that they make.

If you liked Freakonomics, you'll like this book, too. I personally enjoy all of them (books and podcast). However, I sometimes got bored with the narration...just a bit monotonous for my taste. Perhaps it should have come with a warning label "may cause drowsiness" or "don't operate heavy machinery."