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"The first step is to not be embarrassed by how much you don't yet know..."
— Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, Think Like a Freak |
Maybe it was the eternal skeptic in me, or the bright orange cover and punchy font, or the fact that a Penguin Publishing scout passed me a free copy at a conference way back when—I'm not really sure. But from the get-go, I was spellbound by Think Like a Freak. It was an unexpectedly vitalizing mash-up of psychology and economics with outlandish examples and iconoclastic humor. This book is anything but dry and a fascinating portrait of odd-bird people, cultures, and situations across the globe:
The authors' "Freak" mindsets as "rogue economists" to solve these head-scratchers is on full display throughout their afternoon-sized read—a mindset they contend that's completely learnable. Taught through nine, self-contained chapters, thinking like a freak, definitely involves some unoriginal conclusions (learning to say 'I don't know,' and 'I quit,' and respecting the relationship between human behavior and incentives), but the unconventional analysis of unheard-of examples is so compelling that it is for all intents-and-purposes new—it's alive; a perspective that sharpens your vision after setting the book down. Can't wait to crack open their debut, Freakonomics, also a runaway success.
Let's get freaky. [JG]
- How to catch a cheating sumo wrestler
- Winston Churchill's quitting attitude
- The pros and cons of breastfeeding
- Ping-pong diplomacy
- Gut science
- And more
The authors' "Freak" mindsets as "rogue economists" to solve these head-scratchers is on full display throughout their afternoon-sized read—a mindset they contend that's completely learnable. Taught through nine, self-contained chapters, thinking like a freak, definitely involves some unoriginal conclusions (learning to say 'I don't know,' and 'I quit,' and respecting the relationship between human behavior and incentives), but the unconventional analysis of unheard-of examples is so compelling that it is for all intents-and-purposes new—it's alive; a perspective that sharpens your vision after setting the book down. Can't wait to crack open their debut, Freakonomics, also a runaway success.
Let's get freaky. [JG]
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner are "rogue economists" and bestselling authors of Freakonomics, Super Freakonomics, and When To Rob a Bank. I especially appreciated this talk above of the Stephens' key note at Microsoft about their work and 'Freak' mindset.
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