Non-Fiction Pick of the Week: SuperFreakonomics

SuperFreakonomics
by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner 2009

This is the sequel to the best-seller Freakonomics, in which University of Chicago professor of economics Steven Levitt and author Stephen Dubner teamed together to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world questions. As in the original, the situations explored in SuperFreakonomics are based on accumulated data, not anecdotes or anomalies. Statistical techniques are applied to such unconventional topics such as drunk walking, prostitution, honesty in psychological testing, and doctors' resistance to washing hands. They go beyond simply reporting their observations, to suggest that solutions to apparently intractable problems appear both "out of nowhere" and as a result of self-interest. For instance, the the problem of too much horse manure in American cities was solved by the introduction of gasoline automobiles. Similarly, the problem of climate change will only be solved when we base our choices on self-interest. Kyoto's appeals to our consciences are not incentive enough endure the inconvenience of changing our habits.
The authors have a gift for explaining clearly how a researcher reaches their conclusions, making the writing not only entertaining, but factual.