Freakonomics - A Journey on Challenging Conventional Wisdom Through Economics

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Reading a book about economics is probably good for anyone in today's business world or for myself, a small business coach. Yet, the authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, of Freakonomics provided their readers a lot more than just numbers.

The first hook that I received was how the authors defined morality and economics. Not, I am not going to share those definitions with you. You need to buy the book or check the book out at the local library.

Then the authors proceeded to connect seemingly unrelated events through 6 chapters from What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? to What Makes a Perfect Parent? using the science of measurement. These are not your standard economic topics by conventional wisdom. Their efforts reminded me of the Connections television series hosted by James Burke (science historian) that debuted in the late 1970's.

What the authors accomplished for me was:

To confirm through some unique examples that we as human beings have a tendency to confuse cause and effectTo look beyond the accepted conventional wisdom with a different perspective by asking the unasked questions

In far warning, part of this book might be viewed quite negatively by some readers. The authors did their best to balance their findings against anticipated moral outrage.

Again, conventional wisdom many times has us throwing out the baby with the bath water. Levitt and Dubner are asking you to question what you truly know against what you have been told. You may not agree with their findings, but the process of open and honest questioning should be the conventional wisdom within every individual.

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Leanne Hoagland-Smith, chief customer officer, helps organizations through business training coaching services to return to the purpose of business that being building ravings fans while increasing productivity and profitability. With offices in Chicago, Indianapolis and colleagues nationwide, she can help you become the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits. Call 219.759.5601 to schedule a free business coaching consultation.

Review on Freakonomics and How it Makes Anyone Suddenly Interested in Economics!

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So at my local library I saw a copy of Freakonomics in the "best seller" area. After a bit of a internal debate I decided to pick it up and boy was I surprised. This book was really good! While economics can often be told as a boring subject with graphs and numbers decorating a big board the book mainly emphasizes the motivation behind human action. Many people enjoy saying that humans are only motivated by greed and selfishness and Freakonomics does a good job of showing how this motivation might affect us in our day to day lives. Without spoiling some results the book describes and proves with a lot of detail certain interesting questions such as what do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?

The presentation of the data and results is one of the major selling points of this book because it is laid out in an enjoyable way while constantly making you want to turn the page and see more mind blowing and humorous details. One of the most interesting topics in the book was how abortion might be a great tool to stop the growth of crime. Once again I don't want to spoil the reasons the author gives to defend his point but a lot of it is definitely based on solid fact. Another topic that many people will most likely deal in their lives presented in the book is how real estate agents might not necessarily be doing the best job possible selling your house even If they earn a % commission to do so. This topic can be applied to many other jobs where people earn commissions and it is quite interesting to see the author's opinion, accompanied by a lot of data, on how some things might not be as we believe they are.

As a final note, this is one of the first book that deals with economics that I completely enjoyed. Not only is it informative but it has great humor and subject matters that can be relevant to our lives instead of only the broad economy of x country. This is a must read, even if you think economy is boring you will probably find some of the subjects presented in the book to be of interest to you

I'm currently interested in health, finance & video gaming/entertainment. If you ever need information on waterproof cast covers or how to select the best fish oil supplement feel free to contact me:).