Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Stephen J. Dubner (2010-06-24)

I bought this book to replace one my son damaged. It arrived in excellent condition. If you haven't read it, it is an interesting read. It sheds a unique perspective on global warming, the economics of prostitution and even suicide bombers.

Picks up where Freakonomics left off, with more vignettes of the same ilk. Lots of good examples of how policy and evidence aren't sensibly reconciled, and some startling and counter-intuitive examples of where they are, even if accidentally. Well-written and thought-provoking.

This book is a great peak into very current sociology and applied statistics. Intense explanations are littered with anecdotes that seem unclear until fully summarised by later text. The direction may be difficult to follow for some because of this diversion to camouflaged pseudo-tangents and I feel it falls short of 5 stars as the frequency of anecdotes seems excessive.

I would highly recommend this book for those of you interested in looking at things differently. levit and Dubner do a great job of investigating situations normally not looked at in a way that entertains while educating. Another book that makes you reconsider what you thought you knew and reminds us to not assume.

Although not as strong as the first book, this was still worth my money and time. If I was younger, I think I would get my PhD the same way their researcher in Detroit did, first selling crack with a street gang, then hanging with hookers! And yes, I"ll buy the third book too,

Follow up to Freakonomics and even more interesting. Hard to put these books down. Can't wait to get the next iteration. The authors ability to bring common sense to legal, political, medical safety, and other interesting topics is first rate. The chapter on global warming is a must read.

Freakonomics was a great book. This one is a stream of consciousness ramble, though Levitt still has some interesting ideas. I just wish they let the material mature a little longer (also, I think the long diversion on economics of prostitution is really not very interesting, and is just there as "nerd humor").

A real eye opener. Levitt and Dubner really show that the conventional wisdome isn't necessarily what the truth is. They ask some great questions, and come up with some really surprising answers. I hope they are working on their next book, I can't wait to read it.

The content of this book is incredibly entertaining, and super fascinating. The authors spin tales of stats that grab the reader and entwined you in the amazing what ifs, and what are's, and what can be's. if they wrote 100 of these, I'd read them all

The author is running amok against conventional wisdom but armed with some pretty impressive statistics and logic. If nothing else it makes you reconsider things that you accepted as foundational truths

A fun read

This is a somewhat disjointed "Adult Swim" version of the original. There are lots of scintillating details--why Indian men need smaller condoms, how much Chicago prostitutes charge (and for what), and a fascinating (albeit bizarre) comparison of the pimp vs. escort economic models to the realtor vs. sale-by-owner models. The global warming section seemed more science than economics and overly long given the snippet length of many of the other topics covered. Still, you certainly can't say they didn't do their homework - I was only 69% in by Kindle reports when the bibliography/footnotes started. As meaty and thought-provoking as the original? Nah. But great intellectual bubble-gum. All in all, a great afternoon read.

I finished reading this literally within three days of transit non-stop reading this. That's how good it was.
Not only does it accomplish the same task as its predecessor, it does so this time with even MORE research, with even MORE insight, and with even MORE analysis. Dubner and Levitt have gone above and beyond with this book - moreso than I could have ever envisioned with their prequel. Hopefully there's a third? (doubtful, but I can dream, can't I?!)

As a fan of the original book, movie, and radio show, I became a believer and follower in "freakonomics" as a movement and as an ideology in general. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes this kind of "freaky" economics, or for someone who just generally enjoys research and conclusive evidence towards specific trends in general.

If you like trivia and find explanations for how these anomalies have come to pass interesting, this is exactly the book for you. Very similar to books by Malcolm Gladwell, especially "What the dog saw", but more from an economic perspective.

Definitivamente divertido pra quem tem o humor factual. Através de conceitos poucos explorados, transforma paradigmas e ilustra assuntos como o interessante "Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance".

Se você se identifica com essa frase:
"Some people may argue that statistics can be made to say anything, to defend indefensible causes or tell pet lies. But the economic approach aims for the opposite: to address a given topic with neither fear nor favor, letting numbers spreak the truth"

Compre

I bought this book after reading Freakonomics and although I was still as impressed by their hypotheses on the causal links in the information presented, I couldn't help but feel it was somewhat dry at times and lacking the personality that was apparent in their first book. Worth a read if only for the factoids that it contains.

How does SuperFreakonomics measure up this time?

Standing on their previous success with Freakonomics, the topics are much bolder. The perils of drunk walking. How much does a prostitute make? Do you make more money if you have a sex change? What about a cheap way to cool the globe?

The contents are intriguing and amusing at the same time, just like the previous book. Drunk walking is apparently more dangerous than drunk driving. A prostitute makes between $16,000 to $300,000 a year. You do make slightly more money if you change your sex from female to male (but not the other way around.) And yes, there are several cheap ways to cool the globe.

That being said, SuperFreakonomics, albiet with its solid academic research, was written for pleasure reading. For a critical reader, some assumptions were just too easy to make.

For example, the authors claimed that drunk walking is more dangerous than drunk driving based on the assumption that people walk drunk at the same rate driving drunk (1 in 140). Because people in America drive so much more than they walk, on a per-mile basis, the authors therefore concluded, drunk walking is more dangerous.

To the critical eye, it seems arbitrary and convenient.

Other ancedotal pieces information don't particularly appear well-fitted into the contents. Some of the amusing information were "just there," as if it were provided as a topics of cocktail parties. "Why do oral sex become so cheap?" "The introduction of TV in the US leads to increase in crime." Neither topic fits particularly well with the chapters they were in.

On the otherhand, most of the stories are incredibly insightful. For example, on altruism and selflessness, the author concluded that the human behaviour chages with scruity (knowing that they're being watched) and is influenced by a dazzling complex of incentives, social norms, framing references, and past experiences. I couldn't help but smile when reading about donating to public-radio stations, something that I have done often.

"It may be altruistic when you donate $100 to your local public-radio station, but in exchage you get a year of guilt-free listening (and, if you're lucky, a canvas tote bag). U.S. citizens are easily the world's leaders in per-capita charitable contributions, but the U.S. tax code is among the most generous in allowing deduction for those contributions."

I too, enjoyed the canvas tote bag and happily claimed a hefty deduction on my tax return.

In all fairness, the book provides the readers accessible reading to serious economic discussions on demand and supply, consumer surplus, and unintended consequences that may not otherwise be available to such a wide audiance, i.e., people following the New York Times Bestseller list. If there's one thing the authors should have done, they should have added two more chapters.

Challenges your pre-conceptions about "they way things really are"-- funny, serious and thought-provoking. Great airplane book---small, contained essays that will make you laugh out loud or take a step back and reconsider what you think you know.

As a sequel to "Freakonomics" this one is fine, with some insightful behavioral economic thoughts like:

1. A drunk walker is eight times more likely to die than a drunk driver, on a per mile basis.

2. Lower birthrate in India when cable TV introduced because of more autonomy of women.

3. Negative externalities using horses for transportation, too much manure and accidents, led to more modern form of transportation. Title 9 for women's athletics led to more male coaches of women's teams.

4. Averages can be misleading because the "average" person has one breast and one testicle, but a good place to start. People are more scared of sharks than elephants yet elephants kill many more people per year than sharks.

5. Expert performers are almost always made, not born, so best to work at what you love since likely you'll work harder at that.

6. Terrorists are less likely to come from poor families.

7. "Cognitive drift" can lead to many errors, because people can become distracted easily in just a few seconds.

8. Women ER doctors generally are better than men.

9. Nobel Prize winners live longer, so do baseball Hall of Fame members. Also, do annuity buyers because of incentive to collect more.

10. Chemo for cancer is questionably effective.

11. TV watching increases crime - any kind of TV programs.

12. Humans are naturally altruistic, but affected by context, like when being under scrutiny.

13. Law of unintended consequences is very powerful, Seemingly good laws many times lead to the opposite happening more.

14. Simple and cheap fixes are more frequent than one might think. Ammonium nitrate most responsible for feeding the world. Polio vaccine to conquer polio. Car seat belts to save lives. Book offers some possible simple ways to stop bad hurricanes (send some surface warm water down deep) and solve global warming (send sulfur dioxide high in the sky). Don't have doctors wear ties - ties hardly ever cleaned, have doctors follow good hand hygiene in hospitals.

15. Capuchin monkeys can be taught to use money, hence basic economic laws hold for them, also like humans show irrational economic behavior like favoring loss aversion even if it isn't the wisest choice.

If the book is not as rigorous in its proof of assertions, that is OK with me, as it is an easy read and made me think a little deeper about some subjects worthy of deeper thought.

Have enjoyed both their Freakonomics books. This one was done in their typical entertaining and informative style. The main compaint is that this one seemed to abruptly end. There was a definite lack in the number of chapters. Also this one seems a little more rambling. However, it was still worth reading.

A very entertaining read. The book moves fast...and sometimes Levitt will appear to ramble -- only to pull the reader back in. Levitt provides numerous instances of things appearing one way, but being quite another. Freakanomics.

Thank you Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner for quantifying the absurd (and damaging) bias of established 'science'. Fortunately for 'earthkind' the order of nature eventually relegates these arrogant pin heads back their troll habitat.

Still interesting, but not as good as the first "Freakonomics." I bought it used and it had some bookmarked pages with someone else's notes on the little pieces of paper, they weren't even valid points written down! ;)

I would recommend reading Freakonomics first, but it is not necessary. Both are excellent books on how we humans are motivated. The more mature you are, the more you will be amazed at how true to fact these books portray us.

There were some interesting relationships that I had never thought of. Macro Econ. goes itnto some very unlikely studies. I particularlly liked the reasoning behind why terrorists should buy life insurance. The book treats serious subjects with enough seriousness but there is a nice sense of humor that keeps you interested in the story.

This book is filled with interesting facts and confirms, at a minimum, two things: 1) Money makes the world go around, and 2) that we all seem to ignore or just don't think about the law of unintended consequences.

Interesting stories on things you wouldn't expect to be related. If all theories and books were presented his way, maybe most students would be interested in history and physics and trigonometry and economics. After all, storytelling is important to us humans.

Ending the book with monkey prostitution..... way too funny.... overall this was a great sequel to the first book exploring more topics and drawing very clever and logical comparisons of two seemingly distinct topics using very simple tools that one learns in an introductory microeconomics course... this is certainly a must read for anyone whose always wondered why some aspects of human behavior seem irrational...